^\ 


tihvaxy  of  Che  Cheolojicd  ^emmarjo 

PRINCETON  •  NEW  JERSEY 


•d^D" 


PRESENTED  BY 

The  Estate  of  the 
Rev*  John  B.  V7ie dinger 

BV  4501  .S324  1911 
Schofield,  A.  T.  1846-1929. 
Studies  in  the  highest 
thought 


STUDIES  IN  THE 
HIGHEST  THOUGHT 


STUDIES     IN    ife^T'   2    1948 

HIGHEST  THOUclSteiLSgSS^ 


BY 

A.  T.  "SCHOFIELD,  M.D. 

AUTHOR    OF    "the    UNCONSCIOUS    MIND,"    "tHE 

KNOWLEDGE  OF  GOD,"  "  CHRISTIAN  SANITY," 

"the  fourth  DIMENSION,"  ETC. 


'ALTIORA  PETO' 


HODDER   &   STOUGHTON 

NEW  YORK 

GEORGE   H.  DORAN   COMPANY 


COPYMGHT,  19  H 
BY 

Geoeg£  H.  DoBAia  Coupim 


PREFACE 

THESE  Studies  were  given  by  request  at 
the  Alliance  Club,  London,  and  are  now 
published  in  book-form  in  response  to  the 
wishes  of  many  friends.  They  are  of  course 
elementary  and  introductory,  but  as  they 
have  for  their  subject  the  relation  of  the 
finite  to  the  Infinite,  of  man  to  God,  I  have 
ventured  to  use  the  superlative  in  connection 
with  them. 

There  is  no  question  that  the  higher 
mysteries  of  the  Christian  faith  transcend 
both  in  depth  and  height  all  the  boasted 
wisdom  of  the  East,  and  even  in  these  brief 
Studies  sublime  themes  are  touched  upon 
that  awaken  our  deepest  feelings  of  reverence 
and  of  awe. 

There  is  a  great  love  of  the  mysterious 
abroad  to-day,  and  it  is  hoped  that  some  who 
may  be  thus  attracted  to  these  Studies  may 
pursue  them  until  they  reach  the  end  of  all 
mystery  in  the  Divine. 


VI  PREFACE 

The  Studies  are  here  given  as  delivered, 
with  but  few  necessary  changes;  and  the 
reader  must  pardon  the  abrupt  and  some- 
what dogmatic  tone  that  may  characterise 
the  spoken  more  than  it  does  the  written 
word. 

It  is  hoped  that  in  spite  of  all  imperfection 
of  style  the  subject  matter  may  appeal  to 
readers  of  many  shades  of  thought  and 
belief. 

A.  T.  SCHOFIELD,  M.D. 

19  Harley  Street,  London,  W., 
Easter,  191 1. 


INTRODUCTORY 


INTRODUCTORY 


DEGREES    OF    THOUGHT 


THOUGHTS  and  mental  activities  of  all  f^^^/;//^«*^j^ 
sorts  are  becoming  of  increasing  inter- thought, 
est  every  day.     For  long  ages  nothing  was 
known  about  them  and  they  were  deemed 
matters  of  great  obscurity  and  little  inter- 
est.   But  now   I   have    before   me   several 
books  devoted   to   their   consideration   and 
classification.     I  have  also  one  that  regards 
them  as  possessing  definite  extension  in  space 
and  as   having  various  forms   and  appear- 
ances significant  of  their  character.    They 
are  also  said  to  possess  various  colours,  mostly 
of  a  very  vivid  and  striking  character. 
I  have,  for  instance,  the  form  and  colours  "^^""f^* 

'  '  extension 

of  the  thoughts  of  two  people  observing  a^'^'^  colour, 
street  accident  as  said  to  be  seen  by  a  "sen- 
sitive" observer.    The  one  convejdng  only 
vague  sympathy  is  not  nearly  so  bright  or 
definite  a  thought-form   as   that    from    an 


xii  INTRODUCTORY 

active  helper.  These  and  other  interesting 
matters  relating  to  thought  are  becoming 
the  subject  of  much  attention,  and  although 
all  such  new  and  startling  ideas  are  rightly 
received  with  great  caution,  it  would  be  rash 
in  the  present  day  to  assert  there  is  nothing 
in  them. 
d?g?e*es  of  ^^  ^^  ^^^'  howcver,  with  the  shapes  and 
thought,  colours  of  thoughts  (if  indeed  they  possess 
any)  that  we  are  occupied  here.  It  is  rather 
with  the  different  planes  or  degrees  of 
thought  —  of  which,  as  we  know,  there  are 
three :  positive  thought,  comparative  thought, 
and  superlative  thought.  The  positive  or 
The  posi-    high  thinking  is  generally  coupled  with  plain 

tive-high      ^  r    .j-ji-^^-  1 

thought,  or  spare  hvmg,  and  indeed  it  is  commonly 
recognised  that  for  all  effective  thinking  too 
much  of  the  material  is  a  distinct  hindrance. 
Thought  on  this  plane  would  include  all 
relating  to  ordinary  study  of  an  elevating 
nature,  and  would  be  connected  with  high 
aims  and  a  noble  life.  It  is  supposed  to 
flourish  in  embryo  amongst  the  more  studi- 
ous of  our  undergraduates  at  the  Univer- 
sities, and  to  be  the  ordinary  stock-in-trade 
of  professors,  philosophers,  statesmen,  poets, 
and  men  of  letters. 


INTRODUCTORY  xiii 

The  next  degree,  or  "Higher  Thought,"  is^hecoM- 

.     °        '  a  ^  o      7  parative  — 

of  a  very  different  order,  and  is  the  badge  iiigher 
or  title  of  a  distinct  school  that  has  lately 
sprung  into  existence,  being  largely  recruited, 
if  not  indeed  originating,  from  the  other  side 
of  the  Atlantic.  It  is  a  distinct  variety  of 
the  genus  known  as  Christian  Science,  and  is 
akin  in  many  respects  to  the  New  Thought, 
Theosophy,  and  similar  cults. 

It  states  in  their  prospectus  that  "the 
Higher  Thought  recognises  the  true  nature 
of  man  and  the  power  of  his  thought  to  influ- 
ence the  conditions  of  man's  Hfe."  This  very 
modest  programme,  however,  by  no  means 
covers  the  extent  of  the  Higher  Thought, 
which  ranges  far  and  wide  over  the  whole 
field  of  occult  phenomena. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  whatever  of  the 
earnestness  and  zeal  with  which  this  cult 
is  pursued  and  its  followers  are  inspired. 
The  object,  too,  is  clear:  to  develop  the ^^^ objectai 
human  to  the  utmost  limit  of  which  humanity 
is  capable  by  raising  his  powers  to  the  highest 
state  of  efficiency.  All  means  are  invoked 
to  this  end;  telepathy,"  thought  transference, 
psychometry,  thought  concentration  are  each 
of  them  developments  in  this  direction. 


3dv  INTRODUCTORY 

T 

Respira-  The  last,  we  are  told,  can  be  greatly 
thought  strengthened  by  slow  and  deep  respiration; 
and  if  these  can  be  brought  down  to  only 
two  or  three  in  the  minute  the  power  of 
thought  gained  is  very  great.  Thought  im- 
ages (it  is  said)  can  then  be  built  up  and 
the  thoughts  themselves  so  concentrated  and 
brought  to  a  focus  that  they  can  be  pro- 
jected in  any  desired  direction  so  as  to  influ- 
ence people  at  a  distance. 

All  this  is  most  interesting  and  a  certain 
percentage  of  it  is  doubtless  true.  Never- 
theless, although  the  wonders  of  the  "Higher 
Thought"  are  far  greater  than  I  have  indi- 
cated, even  when  it  reaches  its  utmost  Umit 
there  is  still  room  for  one  degree  higher  — 
the  superlative. 

I  have  therefore,  greatly  daring,  taken  this 

The  super-  superlative  as  indicating  the  range  of  thought 

highest      faintly  indicated  in  these  few  brief  Studies. 

The  essential  difference  between  the  highest 

thought  and  the  higher,  which  is  really  the 

justification  for  the  use  of  the  superlative, 

is  that  whereas  the  latter  has  man  and  his 

will  as  the  objective,  the  former  is  primarily 

concerned  with  God  and  His  will. 

It  may  doubtless  be  objected  by  some  that 


INTRODUCTORY  XV 

another  difference  of  some  importance  is  that 
the  former  is  within  our  power  to  study,  as 
we  have  all  the  facts  at  our  disposal,  but 
that  regarding  the  latter  we  know  nothing. 

Of  course  such  an  assertion  might  be 
equally  made  of  any  science  whose  text-books 
were  set  aside,  and  I  have  clearly  shown 
elsewhere*  that  the  Bible  cannot  be  regarded  The  Bible 

*-'  a  Divine 

ultimately  as  a  human  production,  but  thatreveiatioa 
it  contains  a  full  revelation  of  the  true  God 
and  of  man's  relations  to  Him. 

The  grounds  on  which  this  is  maintained 
is  the  unparalleled  circulation  and  perennial 
vitality  of  the  Bible,  which  after  2000  years 
has  no  rival  whatever  in  any  other  book 
on  earth;  its  proved  force  in  its  transform- 
ing power  and  character,  so  that  cruel  sav-^J'^^^^^ 
ages  become  by  its  influence  alone  changed 
into  kind  and  noble  men;  and  the  unique 
characters  and  thoughts  it  contains  —  the 
conception  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  real  force  of 
''love,  eternity,  trinity,"  etc.,  being  found 
nowhere  else. 

For  these  and  many  other  reasons  we  regard 
the  Bible  as  a  real  revelation  from  God  to 

*The  Mystery  of  the  Book.  id.  Morgan  and  Scott, 
Ltd. 


XVI  INTRODUCTORY 

man  and  a  complete  manual  of  the  "Highest 
Thought.'' 

It  seems,  too,  that  now  is  the  psychological 
moment  for  this  assertion  and  for  Studies  on 
this  special  plane. 
?thc  p'en^  The  pendulum  has  swung  well  over  from 
duium.  the  material  to  the  mystic;  and  unsatisfied 
hearts,  tired  of  the  commonplaces  so  often 
offered  them  in  the  name  of  Religion,  and 
disgusted  with  the  cheap  types  of  Christian 
formalism  that  everywhere  abound,  are  seek- 
ing, seeking  earnestly  and  persistently,  as 
they  never  sought  before,  for  the  true  God, 
for  the  ultimate  Good,  for  the  meaning  and 
end  of  life.  The  pity  is  that  they  turn  from 
the  Bible  as  from  some  shibboleth  they  are 
weary  of  hearing,  simply  because  they  are 
really  ignorant  of  its  Divine  directness  and 
simplicity. 

Even  the  amazing  mysteries  of  the  incarna- 
tion, life,  and  passion  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
have  been  so  cheapened  and  popularised  as  to 
The  degra-  lose  most  of  their  majesty  and  saving  power. 

dation  of  ,,      ,     ,-  ,         •  ,  •  im 

Christian-       My  feeungs,  as  I  write  this,  are  very  like 

ity.  •  •  • 

what  I  often  experience  m  my  consulting 
room,  where  I  have  to  treat  a  certain  class  of 
disease  for  which  a  "rest  cure"  is  essential. 


INTRODUCTORY  xvii 

Years  ago  one  could  recommend  and  carry 
this  out,  without  doubt  or  difficulty;  but 
now  it  is  far  otherwise. 

It  has  become  such  an  absolute  common- 
place, so  deteriorated  in  its  methods  and 
details,  so  popularised  and  vulgarised  and  Vulgarised 
carried  out  so  inefficiently  and  carelessly  treatment, 
that  I  find  now  I  have  often  to  apologise 
for  mentioning  it,  and  experience  great  diffi- 
culty in  restoring  the  shattered  faith  in  its 
efficacy.  Many,  indeed,  go  away  uncured 
because  they  cannot  be  persuaded  to  under- 
take again  what  they  have  already  tried 
ineffectually. 

It  is  so  here  in  a  still  greater  degree.  As  I 
write  these  lines  I  am  absolutely  certain  that 
Christ  and  Christianity  as  revealed  in  the 
Bible,  and  not  as  debased  and  degraded 
by  our  modern  tenets  and  practices,  con- 
stitutes a  perfect  panacea  for  the  deeper  ills  ^^^  p^'^^- 

^    ^  ^  ^        ^        cea  of  true 

of  mankind,  and  would  bring  light  and  joy  religion.    - 
into  thousands  of  distressed  lives. 

There  is  undoubtedly  a  craving  everywhere 
for  reality  and  for  genuine  relief  and  rest 
for  the  burdened  soul  and  conscience;  and 
I  can  only  hope  that  in  the  attempt  I  here 
make  to  present  the  old  evangel  in  a  some- 


xviii  INTRODUCTORY 

what  modern  dress,  and  to  depict  some  of 
the  little  known  glories  of  the  spirit  life,  that 
I  may  be  able  to  present  clearly  without 
distortion  some  glorious  truths  of  the  High- 
est Thought. 


THE   FATHER  OF  SPIRITS 


FIRST  STUDY 

THE  FATHER   OF  SPIRITS 

IN  entering  upon  the  first  of  these  Studies 
I  may  briefly  recall  the  essential  difference 
between  the  comparative  and  superlative  inj?j^*'^^' 
thought.    The  Higher  Thought  "  recognises  tween  the 
the  true  nature  of  man  and  the  power  of  his  tive  and 

.  .  .  .  ,    superla- 

thought  to  influence  the  condition  oi  man  s  tive. 
life"  —  a  study  that  centres  round  humanity. 

The  object  of  the  Highest  Thought  may 
be  stated  in  the  same  words,  merely  substi- 
tuting "God  for  "man."  It  "recognises  the 
true  nature  of  God  and  the  power  of  His 
thought  to  influence  the  condition  of  man's 
life"  —  a  study  that  centres  round  Divinity. 

Turning  to  our  first  theme,  "The  Father  of  Subjection 

.   .  °  .  to  the 

Spirits,"  I  will  read  the  one  verse  that  em-  Father  of 
bodies  in  so  many  words  my  subject  in  this  ^^'"  ^' 
Study.     It  is  in  Hebrews  xii.  9:    "PFe  had, 
the  fathers  of  our  flesh,"  it  says,  "to  chasten 
us,  and  we  gave  them  reverence."    These  are 
our    earthly    parents.    Then    follow    these 

3 


4      STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 

words:  "Shall  we  not  much  rather  be 

IN  SUBJECTION  UNTO  THE  FATHER  OF  SPIRITS, 
AND  LIVE?" 

The  Father  of  spirits,  or,  as  the  margin 
says  quite  correctly,  ^'The  Father  of  our 
spirits  r^  That  is  a  phrase  that  is  so 
profound  that  I  feel  sure  that  few  have 
fathomed  it.  Let  me  repeat  the  words. 
^'Shall  we  not"  asks  the  unknown  writer 
of  this  epistle,  I  think  probably  the  Apostle 
Paul,  "much  rather  be  in  subjection  unto  the 
Father  of  our  spirits,  and  live?"  I  will 
venture  to  say  that  none,  however  great 
Fulness  of  t^eir  attainments,  know  in  its  fullest  sense 

life  the  ... 

result.  what  Hfe  means  until  they  know  what  it  is 
to  be  in  subjection  to  the  Father  of  their 
spirits. 

This  is  a  deep  saying,  and  the  more  we 
ponder  it  the  better  we  Uke  it  and  the 
truer  we  find  it:  we  feel  that  it  must  be  so 
in  the  nature  of  things.  Of  course  the  Father 
of  spirits  has  a  general  and  also  a  special 
meaning.  He  is  both  God  and  Father.  In  a 
general  sense  "in  Him  we  live  and  move  and 
have  our  being." 

Father  of       jjg  jg  ^-j^g  Father  of  our  spirits:  therefore 

spirit,  soul,  '^ 

and  body,   -^e  livc.    Hc  is  the  Father  of  our  souls,  ani- 


THE  FATHER  OF  SPIRITS  $ 

mal  life,  author  of  our  energies:  therefore 
we  move.  He  is  the  Father,  in  a  sense,  of 
our  bodies:  therefore  we  live  and  breathe 
physically,  —  "God  in  whose  hand"  said 
Daniel,  at  Belshazzar's  feast,  "thy  breath  is, 
hast  thou  not  glorified." 

Consider  the  three.  The  God  of  our 
spirits  gives  Life.  The  God  of  our  souls  gives 
Movement.  The  God  of  our  bodies  gives 
Existence  —  the  tripartite  nature  of  man 
united  in  the  most  profound  psychological  Pjo^°^<* 
synthesis  in  one  phrase  by  the   apostle  in  logical . 

X  ./  i  synthesis. 

that  remote  age  when  psychology  was  hardly 
dreamed  of,  in  his  sermon  on  Mars  Hill. 

Therefore,  in  a  general  sense,  God  is  the 
Father  of  all  men's  spirits,  but  only  to  those 
who  give  Him  subjection  and  learn  to  live  in 
the  highest  sense  is  He  the  special  Father 
through  regeneration  by  the  merits  of  our 
Lord  and  Saviour  Jesus  Christ.  I  take  it 
we  get  both  the  special  and  the  general 
sense  in  the  words:  "Shall  we  not  much 
rather  he  in  subjection  to  the  Father  of  spirits, 
and  live?" 

The  choice  is  given  us,  "Shall  we  not" 
because  we  are  neither  clods  nor  stones,  nor 
even  of  the  inferior  orders  of  the  animal 


6       STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 
Free  will  is  yj-^crdom.     Made  in  the  likeness  of  God  we 

asserted  '^ 

here.  are  endowed  with  free  will.  Pundits  and 
those  who  split  hairs  and  words  may  deny- 
that  we  have  free  will.  Each  one  of  us, 
however,  is  quite  conscious  that  we  are  free 
to  read  this  book  or  no,  and  that  we  can 
stop  when  we  like. 

Now  having  this  free  will,  instead  of  being 

This  will    in  subjection  to  this  Father  of  spirits,  it  is 

03-11   DC  ^  ,  _       - 

used  for  quite  Open  to  us  to  deny,  to  ignore,  to  rebel, 
to  offend  against  Him;  to  destroy,  to  defile, 
to  degrade  ourselves.  All  who  do  this  can 
never  know  in  its  full  sense  the  meaning  of 
the  simple  word  "Life."  But  this  will  can 
be  used  for  our  good  and  for  God's  glory. 
Therefore  our  quest  is,  how  to  be  so  truly  in 
subjection  to  the  Father  of  spirits  that  we 
may  have  Hfe,  and  have  life  more  abund- 
antly. 

Why  not        We  havc  at  best  only  a  limited  number  of 

enjoy  hie  "^ 

more?  years  yet  of  life  in  London,  or  in  the  country 
where  we  reside.  Why  should  not  that  life 
be  of  the  fullest,  best,  and  noblest  character? 
Why  should  not  we  enjoy  Hfe  to  an  extent 
we  never  have  yet  experienced,  and  reach 
an  ideal  that  we  have  never  yet  conceived? 
This    may    be    attained  by  Studies  in  the 


THE  FATHER  OF  SPIRITS  7 

Highest  Thought,  in  that  thought  which  is 
concerned  with  the  relations  of  God  and 
Man. 

Now  what  God  requires  from  us  are  three  ^g^j^.^^ 
things  —  justice,    mercy,    and    humihty.     I  justice, 
find  the  whole  duty  of  man  crystallised  in  humility, 
that  wonderful  verse  in  Micah  vi.  8:   "iJe 
hath  shewed  thee,  O  man,  what  is  good:   and 
what  doth  the  Lord  require  of  thee,  hut  to  do 
justly,  and  to  love  mercy,  and  to  walk  humbly 
with  thy  God."    The  man  who  does  these  in 
the  perfection  to  which  the  scripture  here 
alludes  is  a  man  who  pleases  God  and  a  man 
who  walks  with  God.     But  although  that  is 
what  God  requires  of  us,  what  we  require  in 
order  to  be  able  to  perfectly  fulfil  those  three 
duties  is  power,  and  will,  and  faith.     God  ^^  require 

^  '  '  power, 

requires  from  us  ethics  and  good  works;  towi.'i,  and 
produce  these  we  require  a  surrendered  will 
and  a  quickening  faith. 

Once  our  wills  are  captured,  the  citadel  of 
our  being  is  His,  and  from  that  moment  true 
happiness  begins  in  our  souls.  It  is  the 
capturing  of  the  will  that  is  the  first  secret  of '^^^^^iii 

'^  ^  must  be 

the  Highest  Thought.    ''My  son,  give  me  thine  captured. 
heart." 

God  does  not  want  the  head  or  the  under- 


8      STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 

standing  first,  but  the  heart  and  the  will. 
The  question  asked  is,  "Shall  we  not  much 
rather  be  in  subjection?'^  The  one  who  is  in 
subjection  has  a  captured  and  surrendered 
will,  and  that  is  where  the  battle  with  self  is 
fought.  Shall  we  live  to  do  our  own  will 
or  God's,  or  shall  we  reach  that  blissful 
summit  when  our  own  will  and  God's  are 
absolutely  indistinguishable;  when  our  wishes 
are  so  surrendered  that  God's  will  is  ours? 

of°pe?fec-       ^^^    ^^y  ^^y*    "These   are  counsels  of 
tion.         such  perfection  that  they  are  of  little  use  to 
us  poor  erring  mortals  who  may  study  this 
book;  you  must  think  you  have  a  very  wise 
company  of  readers  to  talk  like  this."     It  is 
not  our  wisdom,  however,  that  produces  won- 
derful results,  but  it  is  our  surrendered  will. 
"My  son,  give  me  thine  heart''  is  the  secret 
entrance  to  the  highest  spheres  of  this  life. 
I  have,  in  this  Study,  to  say  a  few  intro- 
ductory words  about  this  Father  of  spirits. 
How    God   reveals   His   will   and  how   He 
Wa^Yo  The S^^^^  US  the  power  to  obey  it.    The  "Way 
Father?      to  the  Father"  will  be  the  subject  of  our 
Second  Study. 

Some  may  here  ask,  "  Can  God  reveal  the 
Way?"    To  say  "No"  is  of  course  absurd, 


THE  FATHER  OF  SPIRITS  9 

because  it  limits  the  Omnipotent  and  makes 
the  Infinite  finite.  There  is  no  reasonable, 
rational  being  who  can  ever  say  that  God 
cannot  do  anything  He  pleases.  The  next 
question  is,  "Has  He  revealed  the  Way?  "  The 
answer  to  that  is  ^'The  Book."  There  is  only 
one  ^^The  Book";  all  the  others  are  books, 
or  a  book,  but  this  is  The  Book.  There  is  The  Book, 
only  one  work  in  the  world  called  The 
Bible,  and  this  single  fact  is  of  great  im- 
portance. 

I  would  greatly  like  to  turn  aside  here  for 
one  moment  in  order  to  establish  the  claim 
of  this  little  volume  to  be  a  revelation  of 
the  Highest  Thought  from  God  —  a  true 
revelation;  and  the  reason  I  dwell  on  it  for 
one  moment  is  because  the  claims  of  the 
Bible  have  been  so  greatly  disputed.  In  the 
first  place,  this  book  that  we  all  possess 
has,  at  the  present  day,  nearly  2000  years 
after  it  was  written,  a  single  circulation  that,  its  unique 

,  circulatioD, 

I  beheve,  exceeds  in  extent  the  united  cir- 
culation of  every  book  of  its  size  in  any  one 
year. 

That  is  to  say,  if  you  take  all  the  books 
published  in  one  year  of  men's  writings  of 
this  size,  this  one  old  collection  of  sixty-six 


lO      STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 

writings,  most  of  them  belonging  to  a  small 
obscure  nation  which  is  scattered  all  over 
the  world,  the  Jews,  probably  exceeds  in 
number  at  the  present  day  annually  the 
combined  circulation  of  all  other  books 
published  in  one  year  of  its  size.  To  compare 
the  circulation  of  this  book  with  any  other 
single  book  is  of  course  absolutely  ridiculous. 
Compared  Yoi  instance,  I  suppose  the  greatest  book 
Shakes-      we  have  in  England  is  the  works  of  Shake- 

peare  or  ,  .        ,      .  r    01     i 

Plato.  speare,  but  the  circulation  of  Shakespeare 
is  absolutely  as  nothing  compared  with  that 
of  the  Bible.  The  greatest  of  the  ancient 
books,  taking  a  work  about  the  age  of  the 
Bible,  would  be  the  writings  of  Plato;  but 
you  would  require  a  very  powerful  microscope 
to  see  the  number  of  the  works  of  Plato 
circulated  compared  with  the  Bible.  There 
is  nothing  on  earth  to  compare  with  "The 
Book"  in  circulation,  and  this  hard,  crude 
fact  has  to  be  faced  in  the  first  place  by  those 
who  place  it  on  a  level  with  other  books  and 
deny  its  special  inspiration, 
fcrce^be-^^  There  must  be  something  about  this  book 
hind  the     that    makes   it    circulate    in    such    amazing 

Bible?  ^ 

quantities  in  every  language  and  every  coun- 
try over  the  face  of  God's  earth  at  the  pres- 


THE  FATHER  OF  SPIRITS  II 

ent  day,  and  the  question  is,  "What  is  the 
force  that  gives  it  this  perennial  vitaHty?" 

Then  you  have  here  in  the  Book  sixty-six  it^s^  perfect 
booklets  bound  together,  written  by  inde- 
pendent writers,  most  of  whom  never  saw 
each  other,  and  many  of  whom  never  heard 
of  each  other,  and  whose  Hves  were  spread 
over  some  two  thousand  years  of  time;  and 
yet  when  these  booklets  are  bound  together 
they  produce  a  complete  harmony  and  fur- 
nish cross  references  to  each  other's  ideas  that 
gives  you  a  conception  of  sixty-six  performers 
in  some  great  oratorio,  meeting  haphazard  ^he^Bible 
in  the  orchestra  one  afternoon,  never  having  oratorio, 
seen  each  other,  or  heard  of  each  other,  or 
seen  each  other's  scores,  or  knomng  the  title 
of  the  complete  piece,  but  each  playing  his 
part  for  the  first  time,  and  yet  succeeding 
in  producing  perfect  music.  You  will  at 
once  say  there  must  have  been  somewhere 
a  Master  Hand,  a  composer  as  well  as  a 
conductor  for  this  orchestra  to  produce  this 
wonderful  harmony  of  music  from  sixty-six 
independent  performers. 

Another  amazing  thing  is  this,— that  this Jjs^^-^^,^ 
book   has   never   been   added   to.     No   one  character, 
knows  what  was  its  origin.     It  was  not  cer- 


12      STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 

tainly  human;  we  presume  it,  therefore,  to 
be  Divine.  When  I  say  it  was  not  human 
I  mean  that  the  popular  idea  that  an  au- 
thoritative Council  of  the  Jewish  nation 
bound  together  an  Old  Testament  is  erro- 
neous. There  was  nothing  of  the  sort.  The 
Jews  never  had  our  Old  Testament  as  such. 
This  Old  Testament  grew  together  and  some 
time  before  Our  Lord's  appearance  became 
a  complete  whole,  but  no  one  knows  by 
whose  authority  it  so  became  to  the  exclu- 

The  Apoc-  sion  of  the  Apocrypha.  No  one  can  say 
why  the  closing  chapters  (given  in  the  Apoc- 
rypha) are  excluded  from  the  Book  of 
Esther  in  the  authorized  version.  There  is 
a  hidden  reason  for  it,  but  I  think  that  no 
one  who  compiled  it  knew  that  reason.  I 
might  just  allude  to  it  for  one  moment, 
because  such  little  points  are  so  significant. 
I  do  not  know  whether  any  of  my  readers 
are  fond  of  botany  or  not,  or  of  looking  at 
sea  shells  or  animalculae  under  a  microscope 
and  seeing  the  infinite  perfection  in  the 
smallest  things  made  by  God;  but  here  is 
an  instance  in  literature  of  the  same  per- 
fection. 

Esther.  In  the  Book  of  Esther  the  word  "God" 


THE  FATHER  OF  SPIRITS  13 

never  appears.  God  refused  to  have  His 
name  in  that  book  because  His  people  had 
cast  Him  off,  and  although  the  whole  story- 
is  a  record  of  how  He  intervened  on  their 
behalf,  it  is  as  One  behind  the  scenes  whose 
Name  shall  not  be  known.  He  is  incognito; 
His  name  is  never  to  be  found  throughout 
the  narration.    This  fact  is  now  well  known. 

But  what  about  the  chapters  that  are 
left  out?  Curiously  enough  the  last  chapter  J.**^  "^^e 
of  Esther  ends  in  the  Bible  with  three 
verses;  the  fourth  verse  and  the  remaining 
chapters  are  in  the  Apocrypha;  and  the 
fourth  verse  begins  with  these  words,  "And 
God  said."  The  writer  had  never  noticed 
that  God  was  never  to  be  found  in  the  book, 
and  all  this  part  that  is  shut  out  is  full  of 
His  name,  showing  it,  from  our  point  of 
view,  to  be  spurious.  But  who  was  clever 
enough  to  think  of  this?  This  is  only  one 
instance  out  of  hundreds  of  undesigned 
coincidences. 

But  if  such  be  the  wonders  of  the  Old  Wonders  of 

^  the  New 

Testament,  the  New  Testament  is  still  more  Testament, 
miraculous.     Most  people  have  pecuhar  ideas 
as  to  what  the  New  Testament  is  and  where 
it  came  from.     They  think  it  was  a  selection 


14      STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 


Its  forma- 
tion is 
Divine. 


Endorsed 
by  the 
Cliurch. 


made  by  the  great  early  Fathers  of  the  Church. 
As  a  matter  of  fact  the  great  Fathers  of  the 
Church  assumed  no  such  authority. 

The  canon  of  the  New  Testament  bears  the 
imprimatur  of  no  man's  name,  of  no  Church 
Council,  of  no  human  authority.  It  came 
together;  it  grew  Hke  a  plant.  Its  exclusions 
and  its  inclusions  are  equally  remarkable. 
No  one  can  tell  why  the  letters  of  Apollos 
are  not  in  it  and  the  letters  of  Paul  are;  no 
one  can  tell  why  the  letters  of  Polycarp  are 
not  in;  why  some  of  the  beautiful  sayings  of 
Saint  Chrysostom  are  not  in:  but  for  some 
inscrutable  reason  a  Divine  hand  has  caused 
certain  books  from  the  earhest  ages  to  be 
recognised  as  inspired  in  a  particular  and 
pecuhar  sense. 

When  these  writings,  which  had  become 
so  regarded,  were  known  as  the  New  Tes- 
tament, a  Church  Council  then  endorsed 
the  fact  and  said,  "This  is  the  New  Testa- 
ment," but  they  did  not  form  it  or  gather 
the  book  together.  It  was  only  after  the 
selection  had  been  made  by  no  known  human 
agent  that  they  stamped  it  as  Divine  by 
their  authority. 

There  is  yet  another  remarkable  circum- 


THE  FATHER  OF  SPIRITS  15 

Stance.  It  is  not  only  that  no  one  has  ever 
been  able  to  destroy  this  Bible,  either  thej^^^'b'e 
Old  or  the  New  Testament,  though  attempts  strucUbie. 
have  been  made  to  do  so  by  the  richest  and 
cleverest  and  most  powerful  kings  and  em- 
perors with  the  utmost  intensity  and  deter- 
mination. As  we  well  know,  Voltaire  fully 
thought  there  would  not  be  a  Bible  to  be 
seen  soon  after  his  death,  and  as  we  also 
know  —  I  need  not  repeat  the  whole  story 
—  the  house  in  which  he  lived  at  Geneva  is 
now  the  Bible  House.  That  is  only  one  inci- 
dent; the  point  is  this:  that  since  the  canon 
of  this  New  Testament  was  closed  no  one 
has  succeeded  in  adding  another  line. 

You  would  have  thought  that  the  Early  J*^  ^^"j°^* 
Church  would  have  said,  "But  there  is  Saint  to. 
Jerome,  there  is  Saint  Athanasius,  there  is 
Saint  Chrysostom,  and  the  wonderful  sayings 
of  Polycarp;  we  must  introduce  these  and 
add  to  the  body  of  the  Scriptures."  They 
have  never  been  able  to  do  so;  and  in  all  the 
two  thousand  years  of  the  Church's  history  all 
the  saints  of  holy  life  that  have  written  mar- 
vellous works  have  never  had  one  word  of 
their  writings  put  into  this  inspired  collection 
of  books  that  we  call  the  Bible,  "The  Book," 


1 6      STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 

Some  Divine  hand  has  been  behind  the 

whole  thing,  has  put  these  books  together, 

forced  them  to  be  recognised  as  the  Word  of 

The  sacred  Qq^  and  then  so  closed  the  canon,  so  sealed 

canon  is  '  ' 

closed.  the  book  with  seven  seals,  that  no  one  is 
able  to  open  it  or  to  add  another  word  to 
it.  And  this  book  is  circulated  now,  as  far 
as  we  know,  as  it  originally  was  written,  in 
a  greater  number  than  any  other  book  in  the 
world. 

But  it  is  not  only  indestructible,  but  it  is 
unique  in  its  ideas,  in  its  words,  in  its  story, 
in  its  personality. 
unique*^'"^  It  contains  ideas  that  are  not  to  be  found 
ideas.  j^  ^Luy  othcr  work  on  earth.  It  contains 
the  true  idea  of  eternity  which  you  cannot 
find  in  any  Greek  writing  or  in  any  classic. 
It  contains  the  extraordinary  conception  of 
the  sovereignty  of  God  and  the  free  will  of 
man,  —  two  actual  incompatibles  which  are 
both  asserted  and  which  are  both  true  and 
are  to  be  found  nowhere  else.  It  contains 
the  idea  of  the  Atonement  and  it  contains 
the  extraordinary  idea  of  tri-um'ty  without 
plurality,  —  three  in  one.  The  idea  of  the 
Trinity  in  itself  is  a  true,  unique,  biblical 
conception.       .  .  »        ' 


THE  FATHER  OF  SPIRITS  17 

It  contains  words  that  have  been  expressly  it  .contains 
coined    for   this    book.     The  word    "  love "  words. 
(Agape)  was  never  known  until  it  was  written 
in  this  book.     The  word  ''Jehovah"  is  pecu- 
liar to  this  book. 

It  contains  a  story  that  has  not  its  equal  ^*  contains 

-^  ^         a  unique 

in  the  world.    As  the  Bishop  of  London  said  ^t-ory. 
the  other  day,  "it  is  the  only  story  in  the 
world  worth  spending  your  Hfe  in  telling." 
It   contains   a  Personality  which,   by   the  it  ^^c^cnbes 

^         "^  a.  unique 

confession  of  friends  and  enemies  ahke,  person- 
Pagans,  Jews,  Turks,  and  Infidels,  is  so 
unique  that  all  men  bow  down  before  that 
Personality,  though  all  men  may  not  adopt 
the  Christian  creed,  —  the  personality  of  the 
Man  Christ  Jesus. 

On  these  and  many  other  grounds  I  claim 
that  it  is  inspired  in  a  peculiar  sense  and 
contains  a  message  from  the  Father  of  spirits 
to  every  thoughtful  man  and  woman  which 
they  would  do  well  to  heed.  It  is  a  hving 
book;  it  has  given  life  to  thousands. 

This  book  is  immortal;  it  has  the  seed  of 
eternal  life  in  it  and  a  power  in  it  to 
change  the  hves  of  the  worst  of  men  into 
God's  own  likeness;  and  it  is  doing  so,  and 
has    done  so,   every    day  for  the    last  two 


l8      STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 

thousand  years.    The   sacred  books  of   the 
lysa       East  are  not  living  books.     They  do   not 
book.        change  the  lives  of  men;  they  do  not  profess 
to;   but   this  book  will  penetrate   to   some 
South  Sea  Island  and  change  the  whole  char- 
acter of  its  inhabitants  by  its  unique  power. 
There  is  one  more  thing  about  this  book 
that  I  must  mention.    I  have  been  laid  up 
at  home  for  the  last  three  weeks  with  a  little 
accident,  and  a  friend  brought  to  me  a  most 
beautiful  stereoscope  and  pictures.    If  you 
look  with  the  eye  only  at  the  stereoscopic 
pictures   they  appear  Uke   ordinary  photo- 
graphs; but  any  one  who  has  seen  these  pic- 
tures through  a  stereoscope  will  agree  with 
me  that  a  moment  occurs,  when  you  are  look- 
We  require  ing  through  the  stereoscope,  when  the  whole 
scopic       scene  leaps  into  incredible  hfe  before  your 
eyes.    The  mountains  stand  out  and  the  solid 
figure  of  a  man  is  seen  climbing  in  the  fore- 
ground.   You  can  see  behind  him  and  all 
round  him,  and   the   whole   scene    changes 
from  a  picture  to  reality. 

When  does  that  moment  occur?  When 
you  get  the  stereoscopic  vision,  when  your 
two  eyes,  acting  together  on  the  two  different 
pictures,  unite  them  in  your  brain  as  one,  and 


vision. 


THE  FATHER  OF  SPIRITS  19 

the  whole  thing  becomes  as  absolute  a  reality 
to  you  as  if  you  were  there  on  the  spot.  I 
always  consider  that  stereoscopic  vision  is 
one  of  the  greatest  marvels  that  we  have,  — 
to  be  able  to  see  solidity  from  a  flat. 
In  the  same  way  the  Word  of  God  becomes  it  must  be 

S66n  witli 

as  absolutely  different  the  moment  you  get  two  eyes, 
stereoscopic  vision  of  the  mind  as  a  stereo- 
scopic picture  does  when  it  is  really  seen 
through  the  instrument.  There  are  two  eyes 
which  are  requisite  to  see  the  Bible  with, 
and  the  moment  we  see  any  part  with  those 
two  eyes,  it  is  a  most  extraordinary  thing,  but 
the  passage  becomes  solid,  Hfelike ;  the  words 
leap  into  their  real  power  and  solidity  before 
our  eyes;  and  we  see  in  the  book  something 
we  have  never  seen  before,  though  we  may 
have  gazed  at  it  in  church  or  elsewhere 
for  forty  years.  It  becomes  real  fact,  solid 
truth  before  our  eyes  the  moment  we  get 
stereoscopic  vision. 

And  what  are  the  two  eyes  that  we  have 
to  see  it  with?    The  eyes  of  our  understanding  The  eyes  of 

the  under- 

and  the  eyes  of  our  heart.    We  have  to  see  standing 
it  with  the  head  and  with  the  heart.    We*° 
have  to  understand  it  with  the  head;    our 
heart  has  to  feel  the  thrill  and  power  of  it; 


20      STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 

and  the  moment  those  two  are  blended 
together  we  get  a  stereoscopic  beauty  of  the 
Bible  which  we  have  never  seen  before. 

I  therefore  maintain,  as  I  now  leave  the 
subject  of  the  Scriptures,  that  the  whole  phe- 
nomena of  the  Bible  in  its  circulation,  in  its 
formation,  and  in  its  contents  are  absolutely 
unaccountable  unless  we  regard  it  as  coming 
All  this      from  God  and  containing  a  revelation  of  His 

proves  its  ° 

Divine       will.     TMs  book  has  now  spread  over  the 

origin. 

world  and  the  revelation  it  contains  is  more 
powerful  today  than  it  ever  has  been  be- 
fore. I  say  "more  powerful."  Look  what 
it  effects. 
Some  of  you  may  have  heard  a  sort  of  an 
burgh'con- ^^^^  in  the  papers  of  the  Convention  at 
vention.  Edinburgh  last  year.  As  a  matter  of  fact 
that  Convention  is  registered  in  Heaven. 
There  never  was  such  an  event  before  upon 
this  earth  since  it  has  been  a  planet.  Men 
of  every  division  of  the  Christian  faith  in 
united  harmony  were  there  assembled  in  the 
most  earnest  conclave  to  consider  how  they 
could  best  advance  the  interests  of  Christ's 
kingdom  and  secure  that  His  gospel  should 
reach  every  creature  who  had  not  yet  heard 
it;   and  all  this  done  on  most  practical  and 


THE  FATHER  OF  SPIRITS  21 

businesslike  lines  by  men  who  had  travelled 
half  round  the  world  to  unite  in  Edinburgh 
to  consider  this  subject.  Such  a  thing  has 
never  been  done  before,  and  such  is  the  power 
of  this  book. 

This  Bible,  as  I  have  already  said,  reveals 
a  special  sonship  besides  the  creative  power  Spedai; 

,  sonsmp. 

in  whom  we  live  and  move  and  have  our 
being,  —  a  special  relation  to  this  special 
Father  of  spirits  by  ties  of  blood  and  birth 
and  privilege;  so  that  we  are  spoken  of  in 
this  book  as  children  by  birth  and  by  blood 
ties  by  being  born  again;  and  we  are  spoken 
of  in  this  book  as  sons  by  adoption,  by 
privilege,  as  becoming  heirs  to  coming  king- 
doms in  a  coming  eternity.  To  many  the 
word  "eternity"  seems  still  an  empty  myth, 
but  to  thousands  of  reasonable  and  rational 
and  thinking  beings  it  has  become  a  greater 
reaHty  than  the  world  in  which  we  live. 

Many  of  my  friends  who  study  the  Higher 
Thought,  and  all  who  know  the  Highest 
Thought,  will  agree  with  me  that  the  things 
that  are  unseen,  which  are  eternal,  are  after 
all  the  real  things,  and  that  we  Hve  and  move 
now  in  a  world  of  shadows. 

We  get  in  this  new  connection  with  God 


22      STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 

Sonshfp"    ^  relationship  surpassing  that  of  Adam  in 
with  the     Eden.    There  God  walked  with  man  in  His 

Divine. 

home  in  Eden;  now  man  dwells  with  God  in 
His  home  in  Heaven.  He  dwells  with  the 
Father  of  spirits  in  his  spiritual  home  now, 
and  the  man  who  in  his  soul  and  the  affec- 
tions of  his  heart  does  not  Hve  with  the  Father 
of  spirits  in  His  heavenly  home  has  Uttle 
power  to  represent  that  Father  in  this  world. 
This  is  indeed  the  cHmax  of  the  Highest 
^t\g^^"  Thought.    No   higher   thought    is    possible 

Thought  ^^^^  ^^^^  ^  ^^^  °^  ^  woman  may  be  living 
on  this  earth  and  yet  be  at  the  same  time 
in  Heaven. 

That  such  an  idea  is  not  my  own  and  is 
not  a  transcendental  vision  is  shown  by  the 
simple  fact  that  every  letter  St.  Paul  wrote 
—  and  St.  Paul  was  one  of  the  most  prac- 
tical of  men  —  was  written  to  people  in  two 
places  at  once.  "  To  the  saints  and  faithful 
brethren  in  Christ  which  are  at  Colosse.'*  This 
was  a  small  village  down  the  Lysander  Val- 
ley not  far  from  Ephesus,  and  if  you  had 
gone  to  Colosse  you  would  have  seen  men 
and  women  walking  about  the  streets,  but 
pkces'at  ^^^  would  havc  obscrved  a  something  about 
once.        them  that  would  have  shown  you  they  were 


THE  FATHER  OF  SPIRITS  23 

somewhere  else  at  the  same  time.  You 
would  have  seen  they  were  men  who  had 
had  a  heavenly  vision;  you  would  have  seen 
they  were  men  who  were  wrapt  in  the 
Highest  Thought;  you  would  have  seen  they 
were  dwelling  in  their  souls  with  the  Father 
of  spirits,  while  their  feet  were  walking  the 
streets  of  Colosse. 
So  it  is  with  the  man  or  the  woman  who  "^^.^ '^Js'*" 

and  the 

has  grasped  with  any  power  the  meaning  of  lower  life, 
my  text;  "Shall  we  not  much  rather  he  in 
subjection  unto  the  Father  of  our  spirits,  and 
know  life  more  abundantly,'"  by  having  our 
souls  set  free  to  Hve  in  the  highest  regions 
of  thought,  of  power,  of  life,  of  enjoyment  so 
that  our  outward  hfe  down  here  may  be  a 
reflection  of  the  joy  that  our  inward  spirits 
live  in;  so  that  in  a  sense  no  one  can  touch  us 
without  at  the  same  time  touching  in  some 
measure  the  Father  of  spirits.  Such  is  pos- 
sible, such  is  probable,  such  is  the  absolute 
sober  truth  concerning  numbers  who  are  in 
our  midst  to-day. 
It  was  true  of  Christ.    The  only  Begotten  ciinst  was 

•'  °  always  in 

Son  would  never  have  declared  the  Father,  two  places. 
His  life  in  Palestine  would  never  have  been 
any  marvel  if  while  He  was  living  there  He 


24    STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 

was  not  all  the  time  in  Heaven.  The  One 
who  came  down  from  Heaven  was  the  Son 
of  Man  who  is  in  Heaven,  and  on  earth  He 
was  a  man  who  dwelt  in  the  bosom  of  the 
Father  in  Heaven  all  the  time.  That  is  what 
made  Him  so  supremely  happy. 

He  was  called  ''The  Man  of  Sorrows" 
because  He  Hved  in  a  world  of  sorrow  for 
which  He  felt  intensely,  but  He  had  His 
moments  of  happiness;  and  I  sometimes 
think  He  used  sometimes  to  hide  His  happi- 
ness, though  He  could  not  hide  His  sorrows. 
He  used  to  retire  apart  to  a  mountain  to  be 
alone  with  His  Father,  and  who  can  tell  the 
^"^s  and  ^'^^  ^^^  delight  of  such  moments  of  spiritual 
sorrows,  communiou?  They  may  be  concealed  from 
us,  but  there  is  not  the  slightest  doubt  that 
it  was  in  the  power  of  that  hidden  Hfe  that 
the  perfect  life  of  Christ  was  lived  on  earth. 
So  with  us  in  our  poor  measure.  This  rela- 
tionship, as  I  say,  is  known  and  enjoyed  by 
thousands.  I  will  just  add  one  word  about 
it  and  I  have  done. 

We  read  a  great  deal  and  we  are  very  much 
interested  in  the  new  power  which  has  lately 
been  developed.  I  am  very  sorry  to  see 
that,  in  the  papers,  it  is  constantly  being 


THE  FATHER  OF  SPIRITS  2$ 

called  now  the  new  arm  for  warfare.  Every 
new  invention  seems  to  be  cursed  with  the 
necessity  of  being  dragged  in  as  a  new  means 
of  destroying  other  people.  I  refer  to  aviation.  Aviation 
It  is  a  wonderful  thing,  it  is  a  new  thing,  and  Bible. 
it  is  a  thing  that  interests  us  all.  It  is  a 
thing  which  in  its  spiritual  aspect  is  very  old 
in  the  Bible.  As  you  know,  it  is  talked  about 
in  the  fortieth  chapter  of  Isaiah,  to  which  I 
will  most  briefly  allude  in  closing. 

Young  men  fail;  young  men  faint;  people 
get  tired  of  the  journey  and  the  dust  and  the 
mud  and  the  weariness  of  Hfe  in  going  through 
their  seventy  years  of  existence  in  this  world, 
and  they  have  not  strength  enough  to  go 
through  it  without  weakness  and  weariness 
and  ennui  and  so  on.  But  Isaiah  says  ^Hhey 
that  wait  on  the  Lord  shall  change  their  ability" 

Before  they  waited  on  the  Lord,  before  they  How  to  fly. 
knew  the  Father  of  spirits,  before  they  soared 
into  the  regions  of  the  Highest  Thought  they 
could  walk  and  they  could  run,  but  there  is 
one  thing  they  could  not  do,  —  they  could 
not  fly.  But  ^^  they  that  wait  upon  the  Lord 
shall  change  their  ability'^;  they  shall  receive 
a  new  power  that  they  never  had  before  — 
^Hhey  shall  mount  up  with  wings  as  eagles.''^ 


26    STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 

Where  to?  To  their  Father  of  spirits  in 
'•^epower  jjis  heavenly  home.  The  moment  they  do 
that  what  happens?  "  They  shall  run  and  not 
he  weary,  they  shall  walk  and  not  faint'';  and 
as  the  Apostle  says,  "for  this  cause,"  because 
we  can  fly,  "we  faint  not.'' 

The  man  who  has  learnt  to  fly  never  faints; 
the  man  whose  spirit  lives  with  the  Father  of 
spirits  in  Heaven  is  never  tired  of  life  how- 
ever he  maybe  fatigued,  but  he  has  an  unfading 
freshness,  a  perennial  power  about  him  that 
nothing  can  weary  or  tire.  A  man  said  once  to 
Joshua,  "I  am  eighty-five  years  old  to-day;  I 

Never       am  as  fresh,  as  strong  and  as  able  as  I  was  forty- 
grow  old.  7  O 

five  years  ago  when  I  started  to  walk  through 
this  howling  wilderness."  Why?  Because  he 
had  been  living  with  God  in  Heaven  all  the 
time.  There  is  the  secret  of  perennial  life. 
Having  thus  shortly  opened  the  subject  in 
this  very  imperfect  way  I  will  say  no  more 
here,  but  I  will  ask  any  who  are  interested 
in  the  development  of  the  Highest  Thought  — 
and  I  may  say  it  has  extremely  interesting 
developments  —  to  pass  on  now  to  our  Sec- 
ond Study  on  The  Way, —  the  way  to  that 
Father  of  spirits  of  whom  I  have  briefly 
spoken  in  this  First  Study. 


THE   WAY 


SECOND  STUDY 

THE  WAY 

THE  first  problem  of  the  Highest  Thought 
is  that  which  concerns  our  relation  to 
the  Father  of  spirits.  We  saw  that  life  in 
its  fullest  sense  was  only  found  in  those  and 
only  enjoyed  by  such  as  Hved  in  subjection 
to  this  Father  of  spirits,  and  that  in  this  sur- 
render of  the  will  lay  the  secret  of  a  satisfied  J^^^  ^^^^^ 
and  successful  life  and  the  entrance  to  theii^^. 
highest  state  of  holiness  and  happiness.  But 
the  point  that  remains  for  our  present  con- 
sideration is  how  this  Father  of  spirits  can 
be  reached  by  mortal  man,  and  the  answer 
is  found  in  the  encouraging  and  delightful 
title  of  our  Second  Subject  —  "The  Way." 

Take  a  brief  survey  of  the  world  as  it  is  Jg'^ft  Ts?'^''* 
at  this  moment  and  consider  the  seething, 
struggling  mass  of  mankind  over  the  whole 
world,  striving  in  all  directions  for  divers 
sorts  of  objects  which  in  themselves  yield  no 
satisfaction  when  attained.  Look  across  the 
29 


30     STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 

Atlantic  at  the  picture  of  the  great  American 
nation,  with  its  politics  and  its  millionaires, 
and  consider  that  here  we  are  supposed  to 
see  the  latest  advances  and  evolution  of  man- 
kind in  its  intelligence  and  wisdom.  What 
an  incredible  and  amazing  picture  it  presents! 
Prcpara-        Tum  to  the  older  countries  of  Europe  and 

tions  for  .  *^ 

war.  observe  the  nations  here  spending  some  500 

millions  in  preparing  for  a  war  not  yet  de- 
clared, but  which  curiously  by  common  con- 
sent is  morbidly  declared  to  be  inevitable, 
and  this  for  no  earthly  reason  that  is  known. 
Look  upon  these  perplexing  problems  of  our 
boastful  race  as  they  are  to-day  and  then 
turn  your  eyes  away  from  mankind  to  the 
Father  of  spirits,  who  loves  all  these  strug- 
gling, striving  creatures,  and  mark  that  for 
thousands  of  years,  owing  to  the  Divine  spark 
which  is  in  every  man,  the  deepest  aspiration 
of  the  human  race  has  been  to  find  a  way  to 
God. 

probiSsf  You  remember  how  the  talented  author 
of  "No.  5  John  Street,"  a  book  of  remarkable 
power,  stood  on  the  steps  of  the  Royal 
Exchange  one  day,  as  he  might  have  done 
this  morning  at  12  o'clock,  and  seeing  the 
masses  coming  to  and  fro,  incessantly  hurry- 


THE  WAY  31 

ing  and  bustling  in  front  of  him  at  the 
Mansion  House  in  the  City  of  London,  won- 
dered what  it  was  all  about  —  what  they 
were  all  aiming  at;  what  was  the  ultimate 
good  they  were  seeking;  what  all  this  con- 
fusion, like  the  crowded  movements  in  a  hive 
of  bees,  meant,  and  whither  it  all  tended; 
but  he  could  find  no  satisfactory  answer. 

We  have  now  before  us,  however,  a  won- 
derful subject  to  consider, — whether  there 
really  is  a  Way  across  the  impassable  morass  The  im- 

.  .  passable 

of  mens  opinions  and  ideas  and  all  the  morass, 
seething,  struggling  confusion  of  this  world's 
aspirations  and  religions  that  leads  to  the 
Father  of  spirits.  Here  and  there  an  atten- 
tive observer  may  see  a  few,  silently  thread- 
ing their  way  through  the  bog,  across  the 
morass,  holding  some  unseen  clue  which 
appears  to  guide  their  footsteps,  so  that  they 
fall  neither  on  the  right  hand  nor  on  the 
left,  but  seem  to  be  steadily  progressing  in 
Indian  file  across  the  wilderness  of  this  world 
towards  a  heavenly  home.  We  cannot  cross 
this  limitless  bog,  this  pathless  forest  without 
finding  the  Way. 

Travellers  in  Africa  will  tell  you  that  an 
African  path  is  the  most  wonderful  thing 


32     STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 

there.  They  will  speak  of  trackless  forests 
hundreds  of  miles  in  extent,  with  a  single 
way  not  above  a  foot  broad,  formed  through 
countless  generations  by  the  footsteps  of  one 
man  after  another,  along  which  alone  you 
An  African  can  travel  through  that  pathless  forest  in 

forest  path.  , 

safety  to  reach  the  other  side.  So  is  there  a 
Way,  narrow  though  it  be,  to  the  Father  of 
spirits,  and  there  are  some  of  my  readers 
who  may  have  found  this  Way  and  some 
who  may  not.  But  these  latter  who  are 
earnest  souls  will  find  it;  for  they  are  un- 
doubtedly seeking  it,  and  they  that  seek 
shall  find. 
Is  there  a       Look  once  again  on  the  picture  of  life. 

a  way  '-»  ^ 

across?  On  one  side  of  the  pathless  forest  and  the 
limitless  bog  is  the  restless  crowd;  on  the 
other  side  the  Father  of  spirits  waiting  for 
his  children  to  come  to  Him.  The  one 
question  is.  Is  there  a  Way  between  the 
seeker  and  the  sought  from  man  to  God? 
How  are  we  to  find  it?  This  is  indeed  what 
all  the  world,  the  serious  world,  is  seeking  in 
one  way  or  another  to-day. 

Well  may  we  call  these  Studies  in  the 
Highest  Thought,  for  they  seek  to  solve  the 
highest  problems  and  the  deepest  yearnings 


THE  WAY  33 

of  human  life.  Never  were  there  so  many- 
altars  to  unknown  Gods  as  at  this  moment,  a  hundred 

altars  to 

If  St.  Paul  saw  one  on  Mars  Hill  we  see  a  unknown 
hundred  in  London  to-day.  I  do  not  look 
at  them  all  as  perversions  from  the  faith  — ■ 
far  from  it;  though  undoubtedly  to  shut  the 
eye  against  the  light  is  a  very  different  thing 
from  groping  in  the  dark  before  the  light 
shone;  there  are  determined  gropers  in  the 
dark  who  still,  seemingly  ignorant  (perhaps 
willingly)  that  the  true  Light  shines,  seek  for 
themselves  for  one  reason  or  another  some 
original  path,  some  way  of  their  own  to  find 
this  Father  of  spirits. 

I  would  not  for  a  moment  cast  a  doubt  on  Our  three 

guides. 

the  earnestness  or  reality  of  their  quest,  but 
I  would  point  out  to  them  that  there  are 
for  all  three  guides,  and  three  guides  only, 
that  can  help  us  to  find  the  true  and  right 
way.  We  have  been  given  by  God  reason, 
emotion,  and  will.  These  are  the  three  parts 
of  the  human  mind  or  spirit  —  the  reason  or 
intelligence,  the  emotion  or  heart,  and  the 
will. 

Now  consider  our  question  as  to  the  Way 
in  the  light  of  these  three  guides.     First  iiioi'^^asonl^* 
the  light  of  reason  or  experience. 


34      STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 

If  I  am  in  earnest  in  seeking  a  way  to  the 
Father  of  spirits  that  I  may  live  as  I  have 
never  lived  before,  let  me  see  if  the  voice 
of  experience  has  nothing  to  say.  Are  there 
any  who  have  found  this  Way?  Are  they 
Hving  to-day  or  in  past  ages?  In  answer 
An  appeal  J  jigaj.  thousands  and  tens  of  thousands  of 

to  thou- 
sands,       witnesses,    who   appeal   with   an  irresistible 

voice  to  my  intelligence  and  reason,  saying 

one  after  another,  not  only  by  their  voices 

but  by  their  hves,  ''We  have  reached  the 

goal.    The  Divine  is  our  Father.    We  know 

experimentally  what  life  more  abundantly 

means." 

S^pTthe?  ^^^  °^®  ^^^  ^^^  *^^^  ^^  ^^^^  ^^^  ^^y  ^y 

rh^t  which  they  found  this  Father  was  through 
Jesus  Christ  His  Son.  All  language  of  ex- 
perience throughout  all  ages  of  those  who 
have  found  the  Father  of  spirits  tells  us 
it  was  by  one  means,  and  by  one  means 
alone;  thus  corroborating  by  experience  the 
words  of  Holy  Writ  which  says,  "No  one  — 
crosses  this  bog,  traverses  this  impenetrable 
forest  —  Cometh  unto  the  Father  (of  spirits) 
but  by  Mer 

If  we  turn  from  experience,  reason,  and 
intelligence  to  the  heart  or  the  instinct,  we 


THE  WAY  35 

find  the  same  finger  pointing  to  the  same 
Way.  Look,  for  instance,  at  two  ignorant 
men  who  are  seeking  the  way  to  the  Father 
of  spirits.  One  morning  in  despair  they 
take  a  walk  from  Jerusalem  to  Emmaus.  T^°  ^>s- 

•'  aples 

A  stranger  joins  them;  they  know  him  not.  |?ing  to 
His  words  speak  for  themselves,  not  to  their 
reason,  but  to  their  instincts,  to  their  hearts. 
"Was  not  our  heart  burning  within  us  while 
he  spake  to  us  in  the  way,  while  he  opened  to 
us  the  Scriptures"  that  led  us  to  the  Hving 
Way?" 

I  appeal  to  my  readers  if  this  burning 
of  the  heart  has  not  revealed  to  some  of 
us  the  Hving  Way;  and  whether  those  vital 
instincts  implanted  by  Almighty  God  within  ^^J^^j 
us  have  not  by  His  Spirit  responded  to  thei°stinct. 
voice  without  and  owned  that  Jesus  Christ 
is  the  way  to  the  Father? 

There  is  yet  one  other  guide,  that  of  the?- The  sub. 
Will  as  it  bows  to  authority.  When  the  voice 
of  authority  speaks  it  is  a  question  of  the 
submission  of  the  will  to  it.  We  turn  to  the 
Book  and  we  find  these  words  —  "/  am  the 
Way."  If  the  will  bows  to  that,  we  have 
found  it;  if  we  hesitate  we  have  still  the 
question  whether  experience  does  not  say 


36      STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 

the  same  thing,  whether  the  inward  voice 
of  the  heart  does  not  burn  with  the  same 
answer;  and  if  these  three  agree  in  one 
surely  we  can  have  no  doubt  whatever  that  in 
accepting  it  as  a  final  repl}'-  we  are  following 
no  cunningly  devised  fable  when  we  proclaim 
that  the  Way,  the  only  intelKgible  way,  the 
only  practical  way,  across  the  morass  of  this 
world  to  the  Father  of  spirits  is  Jesus  Christ, 
His  Son,  Our  Lord. 
A  threefold     A  threefold  cord  is  not  quickly  broken. 

cord. 

The  voice  of  reason  affirms  the  truth  by  ex- 
perience; the  voice  of  emotion  confirms  it 
through  the  echoes  of  our  heart;  and  the 
voice  of  authority  proclaims  it  to  our  will 
in  the  words  "7  am  the  Way." 

The  Book  wherein  this  is  written  stands 
apart  from  all  others,  and  to  it  alone,  as  we 
have  seen,  is  the  definite  article  ever  applied 
—  the  Book.  There  is  one  Son  who  stands 
alone  from  all  the  other  sons  that  this  Father 
of  spirits  has  in  His  vast  family;  He  only 
Foiir  has  the  definite  article  —  the  Son.  The  others 
articles,  are  SOUS,  or  a  son;  He  is  the  Son.  The  Son 
is  proclaimed  in  the  Book  as  the  Way  to  the 
Father  —  all  is  definite,  authoritative,  and 
clear. 


THE  WAY  37 

Now  if  you  will  take  the  trouble  to  look  for 
one  moment  at  the  close  of  Matthew  xi,  you  ^o^g^" 
come  to  a  topic  of  great  interest  in  connec-  ^°^^  the 
tion  with  our   subject.     '' Neither   doth   any 
man  know  the  Father  save  the  Son,  and  he  to 

WHOMSOEVER  THE   SON   WILLETH    TO   REVEAL 

HIM."  The  only  One  who  knows  the  Father 
of  spirits  is  the  Son;  and  the  only  ones  in 
addition  who  can  possibly  know  on  earth  this 
Father  of  spirits  are  those  to  whom  the  Son 
willeth  to  reveal  Him. 

To  whom  does  He  will  to  reveal  Him? 
He  continues  immediately  without  a  break, 
'^Come  unto  me,  all  ye  that  are  weary  and  heavy 
laden  J'    Why?     "That  I  may  reveal  to  you  Christ 
the  Father,  because  I  am  the  Way."    The  reveals  the 
only  One  who  can  reveal  the  Father  of  spirits  ^^t^^'- 
to  our  spirits,  that  we  may  live,  is  the  Son, 
and  He  wills    to  reveal  this   Father  to  all 
who  are  weary  and  heavy  laden  and  who  will 
come  to  Him.     "Come  unto  me  all  ye  that 
are  weary  and  heavy  laden  and   I  will  give 
you  rest."    "How  do  I  give  you  rest?    By 
making  known  the  Father  unto  you.    I  am 
the  only  One  who  can  do  it." 

An    amazing  metamorphosis   takes   pl^-ce  ^g^^™*f * 
in  the  human  heart,  however  restless,  how- ^o"^?^"^^- 


38      STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 

ever  anxious,  however  weary,  perplexed, 
dismayed,  distressed  it  may  have  been, 
the  moment  the  Father  of  spirits,  revealed 
to  us  by  the  Son,  becomes  in  very  deed  and 
truth  known  to  us  as  our  Father,  —  for 
all  trouble  vanishes.  For  the  first  time  in 
our  lives  our  souls  are  at  rest. 
Professor        Profcssor  William  Tames,  of  Harvard,  the 

W.  James  .  . 

on  conver-  great  American  psychologist,  who  has  recently 
passed  away,  attributed  a  great  part  of  the 
joy  and  delight  of  what  is  called  conversion 
to  the  fact  that  at  that  moment  the  whole 
being  of  man  became  at  rest,  because  for  the 
first  time — to  use  an  expressive  phrase  which 
has  passed  into  somewhat  cant  usage — he  is 

Spirit, soul,  then  "In  tune  with  the  Infinite."    That  is 

and  body 

at  rest.  to  Say,  Spirit,  soul,  and  body  are  at  rest  with 
the  Father  of  spirits  through  His  son  Jesus 
Christ  Our  Lord. 

The  ineffable  calm  that  comes  over  the 
spirit  when,  by  means  of  this  Way,  it 
reaches  the  Father  is  of  such  a  real,  solid, 
lasting  character  that  I  could  confidently 
appeal  to  the  testimony  of  thousands  at  this 
moment  who  five  in  Him,  and  move  in  Him, 
and  have  their  being  in  Him,  and  find  a 
refuge  from  the  strife  of  tongues  in  the  secret 


THE  WAY  39 

presence  of  the  Most  High,  in  the  midst  of 
the  whole  confusion  of  this  world. 

It  is  for  this  reason  that  the  Son  appeals '^^y^i'], 

••^^  and  God  3. 

to  us  to  come  to  Him  if  we  are  weary  and 
heavy  laden.  Why?  Because  he  says,  "I 
have  got  a  burden  too.  You  toiling  mil- 
lions are  not  the  only  burden-bearers.  I 
have  got  a  burden;  I  have  got  a  yoke,  but 
"wy  yoke  is  easy  and  my  burden  is  light" 
Why?  ^'Because  my  delight  is  to  do  the 
will  oj  my  Father."  Who  are  the  toilsome, 
groaning  men  of  the  world?  The  men  who 
are  doing  their  own  wills  from  morning  to 
night.  What  makes  a  man  move  without 
effort,  with  an  easy  yoke  and  a  light  burden? 
Simply  learning  to  love  to  do  God's  will 
instead  of  his  own.  From  the  moment  he 
does  this  his  hfe,  instead  of  a  sigh,  has  be-A«>ngfor 
come  a  song,  instead  of  a  toil  has  become 
a  pleasure,  instead  of  perpetual  failure  has 
become  an  assured  victory.  And  this  is 
what  always  happens. 

There  is  no  difficulty  or  mystery  about  it. 
The  moment  I  know  my  Father,  so  great 
is  He,  so  full  of  love,  that  He  captures  my 
heart,  and  I  cannot  choose  but  do  His  will, 
because  the  moment  He  is  made  known  to 


40      STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 

me  by  the  One  who  is  ^HJie  Way,  the  Truth, 
and  the  Life "  His  will  becomes  the  greatest 
pleasure  of  my  life. 

Now  that  is  what  is  set  before  us  in 
S.  Matthew  xi,  that  there  is  only  One  who 
knows  the  way  to  the  Father,  that  He  is 
ready  and  wilUng  to  show  it  to  all  who  are 
heavy  laden,  that  the  moment  they  take  it 
they  cease  to  be  weary  and  heavy  laden, 
that  they  find  perfect  rest  to  their  souls; 
and  though  they  still  have  the  common  lot, 
the  daily  toil,  the  constant  drudgery,  the 
burden  is  no  longer  heavy,  and  they  are  no 
Jas^  ^the    ^o^g^^  weary.     The  yoke   is  easy  and  the 

burden       burden  light  from  the  moment  they  love  to  do 
light.  .      '^  ^ 

the  will  of  God,  because  He  has  now  become 

known  to  them  as  their  Heavenly  Father. 

I  now  turn  to  another  description  of  "The 

Way"  in  S.  John  x,  where  there  is  a  passage 

which  I  am  sure  will  delight  us.     We  there 

read,  "/  am  the  Door''''  —  that  is  the  Way. 

"/  am  the  Door;   by  Me  if  any  man  enter  in 

he  shall  he  saved,  and  shall  go  in  and  go  out, 

and  shall  find  pastured    What  does  the  Door 

admit  me  to? 

The  Way        In   the   first   place   it    is  the   WAY    OF 

of  Life.  "^ 

LIFE;  it  brings   me   into   Hfe.    It   brings 


THE  WAY  41 

me  into  life  because  before  that  Way,  that 
Son,  that  Christ,  that  Saviour  could  be- 
come the  Door  for  me  into  the  Father's 
home  He  had  himself  to  lay  down  His  hfe, 
and  it  is  only  through  the  Cross  that  I 
enter  in. 

Oh,  that  Cross!  If  we  could  only  see  it 
as  it  is,  with  its  arms  stretched  out  as  it 
were  on  a  dead  world,  in  life-giving  power 
if  they  would  but  accept  it,  or  even  lie 
passive  to  receive  its  blessing.  As  EKsha 
stretched  out  his  arms  and  lay  on  the 
dead  body  of  the  widow's  son  and  brought 
him  back  to   life,   so  the   Cross   of   Christ,  Tjie  power 

'of  the 

in  its   Hving   power,    the   atonement    made  Cross  of 
by  this  Son  of  the  Father,  will  restore  all 
to  life  who  will  have  it.     The  colour  will 
come  into  the  cheeks,  the  chest  will  begin 
to  heave,  the  limbs  will  begin  to  move,  and 
in  the  force  of  a  new  Hfe  that  dead  spirit 
shall  rise  through  the  quickening  power  of 
the  Death  and  Resurrection  of  Jesus  Christ, 
who  is  the  Way.     There  on  the  Cross  the 
Saviour  hung;    there  He  ever  is  before  the 
eye  of  faith,  stretching  out  His  arms  of  sal- J^"^! JJ^' 
vation  for  all  the  world,  that  everyone  whotioi^- 
is  weary  and  heavy  laden  may  find,  through 


42      STUDIES  IN  THE  fflGHEST  THOUGHT 

Him,  the  way  to  the  Father  across  the  path- 
less forest  of  this  world. 

That  is  the  picture,  and  it  is  because  of 
this  that  He  is  "the  Way  of  Life."  The 
moment  the  Cross  is  accepted  in  my  heart, 
the  moment  this  Way  is  revealed  to  me,  I 
receive  a  fresh  life,  and  pass  in  through  the 
door,  and  enter  the  Way  of  Life.  Till  then 
I  am  practically  dead,  as  regards  the  Father. 
He  is  far  away  beyond  the  forest,  at  the 
other  side  of  the  morass;  and  I  cannot  know 
or  speak  to  Him  without  Christ. 
The  Way       Secondly,  the  Way  is  the  WAY  TO  THE 

Fathe'r.        FATHER. 

The  Way       Thirdly,  the  Way  is  the  WAY  OF  LIB- 

of  Liberty.  ERTY,    bccausc    its    law    is    love.    I    am 

The  sto     ^•Iways   reminded  here,  in  connection  with 

of  a  collie,  liberty  and  love,  of  a  collie  dog  that  I  had 

in  London   for  some   years,   and   being   of 

great  value,  was  never  taken  out  except  on 

a  strong  steel  chain  securely  fastened  to  its 

brass  collar. 

But  on  one  never  to  be  forgotten  day, 
when  that  dear  dog  of  mine,  who  is  now 
buried  in  the  little  animals'  cemetery  at  Hyde 
Park,  came  up  and  stood  by  me  to  have 
the  chain  fastened  on  his  collar  (for  he  knew 


THE  WAY  43 

he  must  not  go  out  without  it),  I  said, 
"No,  no  chain  for  you.  We  have  done 
with  chains."  I  opened  the  front  door  and 
out  he  bounded,  for  the  first  time  free;  and 
you  would  have  thought  he  was  going  away 
to  the  end  of  the  world,  and  that  I  would 
never  see  him  again. 

But  he  had  not  gone  to  the  entrance  of  Jj^^^^ 
the  Terrace  before  he  looked  at  me,  ran 
back  again,  and  there  he  was  trotting  be- 
hind me.  What  was  the  secret?  He  had 
learned  to  know  me,  and  having  known  me 
he  could  not  choose  but  love  me  with  his 
poor  dog's  heart  —  not  because  I  was  good, 
but  for  the  simple  fact  that  I  was  his 
master. 

A  dog  must  love  his  master,  and  though 
he  may  be  a  worthless  drunkard,  he  will 
love  him  just  the  same.  A  dog's  heart  isheartf' 
the  most  pathetic  thing  on  earth.  Once  he 
gives  it  he  needs  no  chain.  He  was  now 
joined  to  me  by  a  stronger  chain  than  any 
blacksmith  could  make,  —  the  golden  chain 
of  love. 

It  is  the  same  with  our  poor  hearts.  We 
have  not  got  dog's  hearts  —  our  hearts  are 
not  as  faithful  as  those  of  a  dog.     Alas,  the 


44       STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 

human  heart  is  not  so  loyal  as  even  the 
affection  of  poor  dumb  animals,  though  in 
intelligence,  as  the  passage  below  shows,  we 
far  exceed  them.  Nevertheless  it  remains 
To  know    true  that  once  our  souls  know  this  Father 

God  IS  to 

love  Him.  of  spirits  as  our  Father  we  cannot  choose 
but  love  Him,  and  from  that  moment  we 
understand  the  meaning  of  this  word:  ''Be 
ye  not  as  the  horse,  or  as  the  mule,  which  have 
no  understanding;  whose  trappings  must  be 
bit  and  bridle  to  hold  them  in.  I  will  counsel 
thee  with  mine  eye  upon  thee."  It  is  enough 
for  God  to  indicate  where  He  wishes  us  to  go, 
for  us  to  run,  because  the  whole  service,  the 
whole  life  now  is  a  life  of  love;  and  a  life 

OF  LOVE  IS  A  LIFE  OF  PERFECT  LIBERTY. 

Se^n*^*^"       There  is  no  bondage  in  true  Christianity. 

Christian-  There  is  the  most  terrible  bondage  in  the 
ity.  ...  .  . 

Christiamsed    Judaism    which    most    of    us 

substitute  for  it:    ''Thou  shalt  do  this  and 

thou  shalt  not  do  that,  thou  shalt  go  here 

and  shalt  not  go  there;   thou  shalt  say  this 

and  not  say  that." 

Look  at  the  verse  before  us.     "I  am  the 

Door.    By  Me  if  any  man  enter  in  he  shall 

be  saved."    That  is,  he  is  brought  to  God,  and 

the  moment  he  is  saved  and  understands  this 


THE  WAY  45 

law  of  love,  from  that  moment  he  is  a  free 
man.  ^'He  shall  go  in  and  out  and  find 
pastured' 

I  never  understood  that.  I  understood 
that  if  I  went  in  I  would  of  course 
find  pasture.  I  would  go  into  the  Church  where  to 
and  into  religious  circles  and  into  Chris- ture. 
tian  company,  and  I  should  find  pasture 
there  because  these  are  "sacred."  Yes,  but 
what  if  I  go  out  into  secular  scenes,  shall  I 
lose  all?  Must  I  keep  in  the  fold?  No !  The 
one  who  goes  in  and  out  of  the  front  door  is 
not  a  servant.  The  very  fact  of  this  going 
in  and  out  shows  that  he  is  a  son  and  belongs 
to  the  house.  He  is  the  son  of  his  father, 
and  he  is  free  to  go  in  and  he  is  free  to  come 
out. 

Yes,  it  may  be  so,  but  then  of  course  if 
I  go  out  I  shaU  not  get  any  pasture.  Ah! 
'^ shall  go  in  and  out  and  find  pasture'^  in 
both.     The  distinction  between  sacred  and  ^"^ '^f ^*^ 

or  secular. 

secular  no  longer  exists.  All  belongs  to 
my  Father;  He  gives  me  all  things  richly  to 
enjoy.  From  henceforth  I  call  nothing  com- 
mon or  unclean,  and  I  am  as  near  Him  in 
my  recreations  and  pleasures  as  in  my  most 
earnest  devotions.     It  would  pain  me  if  it 


46     STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 

were  not  so,  because  the  cord  that  binds  me 

to  him  is  a  cord  of  love. 
You    remember    Brother   Lawrence,  'that 

poor  servant  in  the  seventeenth  century,  who 

was  a  cook  in  a  monks'  kitchen  in  Paris,  how 
ti?e  ?/*he  ^^  testified  to  this?  He  found  pasture  every- 
presence  of  where.    He    said    that   it   did   not   matter 

Ood. 

whether  he  was  on  a  canal  boat  going  to 
buy  wine  for  the  use  of  the  monastery,  or 
whether  he  was  standing  before  a  hot  fire 
cooking  the  monks'  dinner,  with  people 
talking  all  round  him  and  shouting  a  hun- 
dred contradictory  orders,  he  was  nearer  to 
God  in  his  soul  at  such  moments  than  when 
he  was  kneeling  before  the  altar  in  the 
Church. 

I  "go  in  and  out  and  find  pasture.^'  I  am 
a  free  man.  Free!  Why?  Because  I  am 
brought  to  God  by  Him  who  is  the  Way, 
and  from  henceforth  the  chain  that  binds 
me  is  the  law  of  love  which  is  indeed  the 
law  of  liberty. 

Now  how  am  I  to  start  and  tread  this 
rece^"fon    ^^^^^scd  Way?    There  must  be  first  a  wilUng 
of  Christ,    reception  of  Christ.    One  verse  will  make 
that  clear,  John  vi.  21:  "Then  they  were  will- 
ing therefore  to  receive  Him  into  the  boat:  and 


THE  WAY  47 

straightway  the  boat  was  at  the  land  whither 
they  were  going."  This  is  a  wonderful  pic- 
ture. Here  is  the  little  boat,  or  if  you 
like  to  keep  up  my  simile,  the  little  party 
of  travellers  that  want  to  cross  this  great 
forest  to  the  Father  of  spirits.  Here  is 
One  who  offers  to  show  them  the  way. 

The  moment  they  willingly  receive  Him  ^°^jj^*gjg 
into  their  midst  and  accept  Him  as  the^iiore. 
Way  they  are  across  the  forest  and  in  the 
arms  of  their  Father.  No  more  darkness, 
no  more  danger,  no  more  storms,  no  more 
doubts.  The  moment  we  wilHngly  receive 
Christ  into  our  Uttle  ship  of  Hfe  we  touch 
the  shore.  We  have  reached  it;  it  takes  no 
time  at  all. 

Persons  may  take  up  this  book,  for  ex-A  J^°^® 
ample,  largely  ignorant  of  these  truths  of  moment, 
the  "Highest  Thought,"  and  reading  that 
Jesus  Christ  the  Son  is  the  Way  to  the 
Father  of  spirits  may  lift  up  their  hearts 
and  say,  "I  willingly  receive  Thee  into  my 
heart.  Lord  Jesus.  I  willingly  take  Thee  as 
my  Saviour  and  my  Way  to  the  Father. 
Show  us  the  Father  and  it  sufficeth  us."  And 
the  moment  they  willingly  receive  Him  into 
the  soul  they  are  at  the  land  whither  they 


48     STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 

are  going.  They  have  reached  their  Home. 
So  simple,   so  instantaneous  is  the  change 

The  sur-     when  once  the  will  is  surrendered. 

will.  Observe  here  again  the  force  of  the  ques- 

tion "Shall  we  not  much  rather  be  in  sub- 
jection to  the  Father  of  spirits  and  live?" 
Shall  we  not  much  rather  willingly  receive 
Him  into  our  ship  and  reach  the  land  whither 
we  are  going?  No  more  tossing,  no  more 
distress!  It  is  wonderful  what  a  change 
occurs  when  this  soul-surrender  is  brought 
about. 

Perhaps  I  may  turn  aside  for  a  moment 
and  relate  a  personal  experience  that  happened 
to  me  the  other  day.  One  hesitates  to  say 
much  about  it;  I  have  never  spoken  of  it 
yet,  but  it  just  occurs  to  me  that  it  may  be 
of  some  interest  in  this  connection. 

Adven-  J  was  yachting  on  the  Zuyder  Zee  with  a 

the  Zuyder  party  of  youug  f  rfeuds,  and  was  at  a  very 
distant  and  lonely  part  of  it,  in  the  island 
of  Urk,  and  I,  with  all  the  party  of  twelve, 
had  to  catch  the  mail  train  to  London  at 
a  certain  hour  from  Enkhuisen,  which  is  a 
town  at  the  extreme  top  of  the  Zuyder  Zee. 
We  set  sail  from  Urk  as  our  captain 
thought  with  hours  to  spare,  but  he  very 


THE  WAY  49 

soon  found  the  wind  was  contrary  and  a 
storm  began  and  the  sea  rose,  and  things  T^^  ^.^^^^ 

*-*  '  °    m  a  storm. 

got  from  bad  to  worse.  I  was  down  in 
one  of  the  cabins,  and  received  messages 
from  the  deck  from  time  to  time.  At  last 
it  got  near  the  hour  when  the  train  should 
start  —  and  I  then  sent  word  to  the  captain 
and  said,  "When  shall  we  be  in?"  He 
replied,  "I  can't  say  at  all;  it  may  be  two 
hours  or  it  may  be  seven  hours;  at  any  rate 
there  is  not  the  slightest  hope  of  your  catch- 
ing that  train." 

I  was  in  despair,  when  rehef  came.  Itj^st.'^^^^ 
was  not  with  me  a  question  exactly  of  receiv- 
ing Christ  into  the  ship,  but  this  thought 
came  upon  me.  I  had  been  reading  some 
books  at  the  time  about  the  power  over 
wind  and  waves  of  various  occult  forces,  and 
I  thought,  "If  these  various  forces  can  be 
exercised  in  this  way,  surely  Almighty  God 
can  at  His  will  and  with  the  greatest  ease 
do  as  He  pleases."  Therefore  in  the  cabin, 
without  sajdng  a  word  to  any  one,  I  just 
offered  up  a  short  and  earnest  prayer  that  if  Prayer  for 

*■  '^       "^  change  of 

It  was  God's  will  we  should  catch  the  train,  wind, 
then  He  would  be  pleased  so  to  alter  the 
wind  that  we  could  enter  the  harbour. 


50      STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 

You  know  how  little  faith  we  have  in  mate- 
rial prayers  nowadays,  and  I  do  not  much  like 
speaking  of  them  myself  because  anybody 
may  say,  "  The  tiling  might  occur  by  chance, ' ' 
which  of  course  is  possible.  What  really 
happened  was  this. 

I  offered  up  this  prayer,  because  we  were 
in  great  distress  about  the  matter,  and  I 
had  hardly  concluded  it  when  my  nephew 
from  the  deck  shouted  out,  "The  captain 
says  we  shall  be  in  Enkhuisen  in  half  an 
hour."  I  said,  "It  cannot  be.  He  told  me 
he  could  not  tell  when  we  should  be  in,  that 
we  might  be  two  or  seven  hours."  But  my 
nephew  repHed,  "He  says  the  wind  has 
veered  right  round,  and  is  now  blowing  fair 
for  the  harbour." 

It  certainly  was  not  five  minutes  after  that 

reased°™  prayer  was  offered  that  the  wind  changed  to 

the  opposite  direction  and  blew  us  straight 

Into  the  harbour  and  we  were  in  plenty  of 

time  for  our  train.     This  may  be  taken  as 

a  striking  illustration  of  the  text,  for  we  were 

immediately  at  the  land  whither  we  wished 

to  go. 

Aperpiex-      jVfy  closing  word   to-day  is  this.     There 

km.  may  be  some   perplexed  readers  who  may 


THE  WAY  SI 

say,  "I  have  got  Jesus  Christ  in  my  ship. 
I  am  a  Christian;  I  know  something  of  these 
Studies  in  the  Highest  Thought,  though  not 
perhaps  exactly  in  the  way  you  have  been 
putting  it  to  us,  but  I  must  say  that  my 
voyage  is  such  a  rough  one  that  I  sometimes 
wonder  if  I  am  in  the  right  way." 

I  will  in  conclusion  refer  such  to  one  other  The  true 

solution. 

Scripture,  Matthew  xiv.  22,  which  I  think  will 
give  those  of  us  who  are  much  tried,  and 
who  have  very  troubled  and  distressed  hves, 
the  greatest  comfort.  ^'Straightway  Jesus 
constrained  the  disciples  to  enter  into  the  boat 
and  to  go  before  him  unto  the  other  side. 
.  .  .  But  the  boat  was  now  in  the  midst  of 
the  sea,  distressed  by  the  waves,  for  the  wind 
was  contrary y  Here  Christ  absolutely  con- 
strained the  disciples  to  get  into  the  boat; 
therefore  it  must  have  been  by  His  will  that 
they  left  the  shore. 

But  I  want  to  point  out  to  you,  from  this 
wonderful  passage,  that  though  Christ  con- 
strained them  to  get  into  the  boat,  yet  the 
wind  was  contrary  from   the  moment  they^?^^^^^^ 
got  in  it,  and  the  sea  was  rough.     It  may  rough 

?        ,  .  waves. 

be  the  same  with  us. 

We  often  ask  God  to  show  us  the  way,  and 


52      STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 

then  when  it  becomes  rough  and  tossing  and 
difiScult  we  begin  to  doubt  that  it  can  be 
His  way.  But  a  contrary  wind  and  rough 
waves  are  no  proof  whatever  that  we  are 
not  in  God's  path  and  in  God's  way  and 
going  straight  to  the  Heavenly  Home.  Here 
is  an  instance.  No  one  can  say  that  these 
disciples  were  not  right  in  going,  because 
Christ  sent  them;  He  constrained  them. 
Why?  Because  the  blessings  of  our  Hfe 
are  not  blue  skies  and  smooth  seas.  The 
blessings  of  our  Hfe  He  in  learning  the  lessons 
Our  _  in  the  Highest  Thought  about  our  Father's 
education.  wiU  and  in  the  psychological  education  of 
the  spirits  and  souls  of  men. 

Christ  had  a  great  lesson  to  teach  these 
disciples  —  how  to  find  Him  in  their  deepest 
distress.  And  it  was  necessary  there  should 
be  winds  and  storms  in  order  that  in  their 
midst  they  could  learn  their  lesson,  for  they 
could  learn  it  nowhere  else.  And  I  believe 
there  are  some  lessons  that  every  Christian 
soul  has  to  be  taught  that  cannot  be  learnt 
excepting  when  the  wind  is  contrary  and 
the  seas  are  high.  It  is  only  then  that  the 
Christ        vision  of  Christ  walking  on  the  water  shows 

walking  on  ^  '^ 

the  water.  His  power  is  greater  than  our  troubles  and 


THE  WAY  53 

we  learn  to  trust  in  Christ  and  in  Christ 
alone. 
Therefore  should  any  one  who  is  in  distress  Never 

.  .  doubt 

of  hfe  through  things  having  gone  wrong  God's  love, 
with  them,  in  money,  in  health,  in  estate, 
or  in  family  ties  or  relations,  read  this  with 
sore  hearts  and  question  with  a  doubt  which 
is  really  suggested  by  the  Evil  One,  "Can 
the  Father  of  spirits  love  me  as  He  says  and 
let  me  be  as  I  am  to-day,  with  my  heart 
sore  and  cast  down;  can  my  Saviour  have 
directed  my  path  when  I  find  it  leads  through 
such  troubled  waters,  with  such  howling  con- 
trary winds?"  To  such  I  say,  Yes.  You 
get  the  whole  picture  in  this  14th  Matthew. 
The  solution  is,  You  are  being  educated 
in  God's  school.     You  are  being  taught  to  Hard 

lessons  3l^ 

lean  hard  upon  Him,  and  to  trust  better  in  school, 
the  wisdom  and  the  love  of  your  Father  in 
a  way  you  never  could  learn  but  for  these 
storms  and  but  for  these  winds.  Take  com- 
fort therefore.  You  are  already  in  your  soul 
at  the  land  whither  you  would  go.  You 
can  rest  in  your  spirit  in  the  Father's  Home, 
and  although  you  may  need  to  be  edu- 
cated by  the  storms  of  this  hfe  you  can  be  at 
rest  in  the  midst  of  it  all,  for  those  waters  on 


S4     STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 

which  the  Saviour  walks  shall  never  drown 
you. 
ofuf**^°°  Such  is  the  education  of  the  spirit,  such  is 
spirit.  spiritual  psychology.  I  earnestly  commend, 
therefore,  to  all  my  readers,  this  study  in 
the  Highest  Thought,  this  acceptance  of  the 
only  Way  that  leads  to  the  Father  of  Spirits; 
and  would  remind  you  that  in  the  next  Study 
I  hope  to  go  one  step  further  into  the  most 
mysterious  subject  that  we  have  before  us 
in  these  Addresses,  and  one  about  which  per- 
haps least  is  known  —  The  Inner  Shrine. 


THE    INNER   SHRINE 


THIRD   STUDY 

THE  INNER  SHRINE 

THE  subject  of  the  first  of  these  Studies  |^^J^^°^ 
in  the  Highest  Thought  was  the  Father  studies. 
of  spirits,  and  we  found  that  life,  in  its  fullest 
sense,   could  not  be  said  to  be  known  or 
enjoyed  until  we  knew  this  Divine  Father 
and  were  in  subjection  to  Him. 

In  the  Second  Study  I  spoke  of  the  Way  by 
which  He  was  reached.  We  regarded  life  as 
a  trackless  morass  or  a  pathless  forest,  and 
on  the  other  side  of  it  stood  the  Father  of 
spirits.  We  saw  ourselves  walking  along  a 
safe  but  narrow  path,  that  led  across  the 
swamp,  that  led  through  the  forest  to  the 
Father's  Home.  We  discovered  how  to  find 
it;  we  saw  who  had  first  trodden  the  path 
alone  and  who  had  now  become  himself  the 
*'Way,"  and  we  saw  that,  once  the  path  was 
entered,  our  Hves  became  lives  of  fullest  hap- 
piness and  perfect  safety. 

We  have  to-day  before  us  a  still  more  study-  ^ 

57 


S8     STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 

remarkable  subject,  as  we  turn  our  eyes  to 
a  third  marvel  in  the  "Highest  Thought." 
We  must  consider  it  with  great  caution  and 
with  great  care,  because  the  subject  is  so 
profound;  and  as,  after  all,  we  are  only 
finite  beings  with  a  limited  capacity  for  ap- 
prehending these  problems  of  the  Infinite, 
it  does  not  do  to  tax  the  mind  beyond  its 
powers.  One  of  the  worst  things  one  can 
Strcfspec-°^  *^°'  inoreover,  is  to  practise  the  habit  of  in- 
tion.  trospection.  Self-analysis  is  always  fraught 
with  more  or  less  danger. 

To-day,  however,  we  shall  be  obliged,  owing 
to  the  exigencies  of  our  subject,  to  turn  our 
eyes  in  upon  ourselves  and  to  go  through, 
in  this  Study,  some  form  of  close  introspec- 
tion. We  will  not  dwell  too  much  upon 
them,  but  we  must  learn  something  of  the 
marvels  within  us. 

Looked  at  broadly  and  simply,  we  who  are 
about  to  consider  this  subject  are  in  the 
divPslon*^^  first  placc,  as  we  have  already  seen,  tripartite 
of  man.  beings ;  according,  at  any  rate,  to  western  ideas. 
Eastern  philosophers  no  doubt  divide  with 
greater  minuteness  the  whole  human  being 
into  seven  parts;  but  Christianity  and  all 
western  philosophy  are  content  with  three  — 


THE  INNER  SHRINE  59 

the  well-known  body,  soul,  and  spirit;    the^^^tenai 

and  imrna* 

body  being  wholly  material ;  the  spirit  being  teriai. 
wholly  immaterial  and  without  form  or 
extension  in  space;  while  the  soul  partakes 
somewhat  of  the  other  two  —  being  imma- 
terial so  far  as  it  is  connected  with  the  spirit, 
and  yet  having  possibly  some  slight  materi- 
ality as  connected  with  the  body.  This, 
indeed,  is  the  only  way  in  which  the  well- 
authenticated  and  numerous  appearances  of 
non-substantial  forms  or  ghosts  can  possibly 
be  explained. 
We  have  also  consciousness  of  body,  soul,  Triple  con- 

.  .  sciousness. 

and  spirit. 

In  connection  with  the  body  we  have 
sense-consciousness  —  consciousness  given  us 
by  touch,  sight,  hearing,  feeling,  etc.  —  by 
all  our  senses.  Connected  with  the  soul  there 
is  self -consciousness ,  or  mental  consciousness, 
the  knowledge  of  ourselves,  by  which  we 
can  conduct  some  kind  of  introspection  or 
looking  in  on  our  minds.  With  regard  to 
the  spirit,  there  is  God-consciousness,  or  a 
capacity  of  understanding  these  deep  truths 
of  the  Highest  Thought  which  God  seeks  to 
make  known  to  us. 

Without  some  such  capacity  on  the  part 


6o    STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 

of  every  human  being  no  revelation  of  God 
would  be  of  the  slightest  use  to  us.  It  would 
be  as  useless  as  writing  a  Bible  for  animals, 
or  something  of  that  sort.  There  must  be 
some  faculty  within  that  can  respond  to  the 
voice  of  God  without.  Observe,  therefore, 
that  connected  with  the  body  we  get  sense- 
consciousness,  with  the  soul  self-conscious- 
ness, and  with  the  spirit  God-consciousness. 
Again,  we  find  in  Holy  Writ  that  before  we 

Spi^tually  jja,ve  the  knowledge  of  the  Father  of  spirits 
we  are  described  as  dead,  —  dead  in  sins  and 
so  forth.  That  refers  to  the  deadness  of  our 
spirits,  because  they  are  not  in  connection 
with  this  Father  of  spirits,  and  therefore 
not  alive  in  the  highest  sense.  When  people 
are  described  as  dead  theologically,  from  a 
Christian  point  of  view  or  a  scriptural  point 
of  view,  it  never  means  that  their  minds 
are  dead;  it  never  means  that  their  bodies  are 
dead.  As  far  as  one  can  analyse  it,  it  means 
that  the  spirit  is  dead,  dead  towards  God; 
that  is  to  say,  there  is  an  absence  of  response, 
though  there  he  a  capacity  for  it. 

I  am  a  Lastly,  in  these  definitions  we  find  that  the 

"ego,"  or  the  "I,"  or  the  personality  —  I, 
myself  —  is  principally  connected  with  the 


THE  INNER  SHRINE  6i 

spirit.  No  one  would  say,  "I  am  a  body" 
or  "I  am  a  soul."  With  regard  to  those 
things  they  would  say,  "I  have  got  a  body." 

But  if  you  have  got  one,  it  shows  you  are 
not  it.  You  would  say  also,  "I  have  got  a 
mind  or  a  soul."  Well,  then,  you  are  not 
"it."  But  what  we  are,  as  nearly  as  pos- 
sible, is  spirit. 

The  "ego,"  therefore,  naturally  associates  J^ritull'" 
itself  with  the  spirit  of  man.  I  am  a  spirit 
—  not  a  disembodied  spirit,  but  a  spirit 
with  mental  and  physical  qualities, — mental 
because  I  have  got  a  soul,  physical  because 
I  have  got  a  body.  I  am,  therefore,  a  tri- 
partite being. 

The  subject  before  us  for  our  Study  to-day 
is  the  "Inner  Shrine."  How  shall  I  explain  The  inner 
what  I  mean  by  this  expression?  Take  a 
crowd  of  people  at  some  place  of  worship. 
You  see  ordinary  men  and  women  in  the 
dress  of  the  day,  yet  within  many  of  them, 
I  believe,  these  Inner  Shrines,  unknown  pos- 
sibly to  their  possessors,  may  assuredly  be 
found.  Let  me  give  an  illustration  of  the 
contrast  between  the  humble  exterior  and 
the  glorious  interior  of  a  true  Christian  man. 


62       STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 

fl^on^the''  ^^^  wa]k  along  a  gravelled  walk  where 
path.  there  are  a  few  dead  leaves  and  a  few  twigs. 
You  notice  particularly  a  brown  twig  or  leaf 
lying  on  the  path.  And  then,  a  miracle 
occurs!  Behold,  with  a  glorious  flash  that 
thrills  through  you,  it  changes  into  a  vision 
of  transcendent  beauty.  On  the  path  sud- 
denly you  see  flaming  scarlet  and  purple 
and  yellow,  —  a  gorgeous  painting  of  the 
most  exquisite  contrasted  colours  flashes  into 
your  eye  from  the  gravel,  and  then  it  is  gone 
again,  —  and  the  brown  leaf  reappears. 
What  is  it? 

A   butterfly,    outwardly    painted    in    the 

humblest    colours,  the  commonest    browns, 

apparently  with  the  coarsest  brush,  so  as  to 

make  it  look  Hke  a  leaf  but  when  it  opens 

humble      ^^^    rcvcals    the  interior,   decorated  inside 

exterior     -^[i]^  ^he  most  gorgcous  traccry  by  the  hand 

gorgeous    of  the  Creator. 

So  with  the  outward  appearance  of  many 
a  person  whom  we  meet.  Inside  the  great- 
est splendour,  painted  by  Almighty  God; 
outside  an  ordinary,  quiet  exterior.  It  is 
only  by  a  flash  now  and  then  that  the  glory 
of  the  "Inner  Shrine"  is  revealed. 

Take  another  illustration,  the  Tabernacle 


interior. 


THE  INNER  SITRINE  63 

in  the  wilderness.  Could  anything  be  more  The  Taber- 
ugly  than  that  hump  of  rough  brown  goats' 
hair?  All  that  any  one  saw  in  the  desert  of 
the  glory  of  God's  house  or  tabernacle  was 
a  sort  of  brown  mound  rising  in  the  midst 
of  a  vast  camp.  If,  however,  one  were  pri\'i- 
leged  to  go  in  to  the  camp  and  enter  through 
the  veil,  between  the  pillars  into  the  interior 
of  the  Tabernacle,  one  would  have  seen 
visions  passing  all  one's  imagination.  One 
would  have  progressed  step  by  step  until 
one  reached  the  inner  shrine,  the  Holy  of 
Holies,  where  were  concentrated  every  glory 
of  radiance  and  colour. 
Above  purple   and  blue   and  scarlet  and  ^Y'thm  and 

^       ^  without. 

fine-twined  linen  and  golden  Cherubim;  all 
around  walls  of  gold;  in  front  the  Ark  of 
the  Covenant,  with  the  golden  Cherubim 
overshadowing  the  Mercy  Seat,  and  between 
them  the  dazzling  blazing  radiance  of  Al- 
mighty God  himself,  —  all  this  was  hidden 
under  the  outer  covering  of  brown  goats' 
hair,  reminding  us  of  the  contrast  between 
the  outside  of  the  butterfly  and  its  glorious 
inner  wings  as  they  flash  on  our  sight. 

It  was  thus  also  with  Christ.     You    saw  Christ  on 
a  humble  man  walking  about  the  streets  of 


64      STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 

Jerusalem  and  Capernaum,  '^  His  visage  was 
so  marred  more  than  any  tnan's,  and  there 
was  no  beauty  that  we  should  desire  Him,'' 
followed  by  a  string  of  poor  Galilean  peas- 
ants, who  could  not  even  speak  the  ordi- 
nary language  of  Judea,  —  rough,  uncultured 
country  folk.  But  let  the  wings  flash  and 
reveal  the  hidden  glories  of  the  Man  Christ 
Jesus,  and  then  you  would  know  what  the 
"Inner  Shrine"  really  meant. 
Or,  go  to  that  little  flat-roofed,  one-storied 
At  dwelling  in  a  village  called  Emmaus,  with 

Emmaus.  t     • 

nothing  to  distmguish  it  from  other  houses, 
—  a  commonplace  exterior.  Take  off  the 
roof  and  look  inside,  and  there  you  see  the 
hidden  glory  of  the  Lord  of  Life,  at  home  in 
the  house  of  two  of  His  friends. 

So  it  is  with  us.  We  have  within  us  in 
the  recesses  of  our  spirit  a  shrine  or  an  abode 
where  God  may  dwell.  But  so  far  from  it 
being  always  a  shrine  of  glory,  it  may  become 
perfectly  hideous  with  darkness  and  defile- 
ment. If  you  want  to  know  to  what  depths 
The  degra-  this  holy  Shrine  is  capable  of  being  degraded 
the  Shrine,  you  have  Only  to  look  at  Matthew  xv.  i8: 
"But  the  things  which  proceed  out  of  the  mouth; 
and  they  come  forth  out  of  the  heart,  they  defile 


THE  INNER  SHRINE  65 

the  man.  For  out  of  the  hearV^ — that  is,  out 
of  this  place  wliich  ought  to  be  the  most 
glorious  centre  of  one's  being,  so  defiled,  so 
lowered,  so  degraded  it  may  become  that  — 
"Ow/  of  the  heart  come  forth  evil  thoughts, 
murders,  adulteries,  fornications,  thefts,  false 
witness,  railings:  these  are  the  things  which 
defile  the  man;  hut  to  eat  with  unwashen 
hands  defileth  not  the  man.'' 

How,  then,  speak  of  glory  in  connection 
with  such  an  abode  of  shame  as  our  inner 
being  may  become?  Because  it  may  also  be 
a  wonderful  shrine  though,  I  have  pointed 
out,  still  connected  with  a  lowly  exterior;  in 
fact  the  exterior  is  never  a  guide  as  to  what 
is  within.    Look  at  Saul  and  look  at  David!  ^fui  and 

David. 

The  first  a  man  head  and  shoulders  taller 
and  finer  than  any  man  in  Israel,  a  man  we 
would  all  have  loved  to  see.  What  about 
the  inner  shrine?  Full  of  evil  thoughts  which 
caused  him  to  lose  his  kingly  throne.  Look 
in  contrast  at  Httle  Da\'id,  one  with  no 
kingly  bearing,  but  with  a  heart  of  gold, 
who  could  take  his  harp  and  from  the  Inner 
Shrine  produce  his  wondrous  psalms. 

How,  then,  does  this  inner  part  of  us  be- 
come a  shrine,  and  what  right  have  we  to  say 


66      STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 

that  such  is  ever  the  case?  In  i  Corinthians, 
vi.  19,  is  a  verse  on  this  subject  that  I  must 
read.  You  can  refer  to  many  other  scriptures 
at  your  leisure,  but  this  one  I  will  quote: 
"Know  ye  not  that  your  body"  —  let  us  take 
it  to  ourselves  now  and  turn  the  eye  of 
introspection  inwards  —  "Know  ye  not  that 
Our  bodies  youT  hody  is  a  temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost  which 
^™  ^  is  in  you"  —  that  is,  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God 
—  "which  ye  have  from  God?  And  ye  are 
not  your  own;  for  ye  were  bought  with  a  price; 
glorify  God,  therefore,  in  your  body." 

The  bodies  of  these  Corinthian  Christians 
are  here  described  as  being  temples.  That 
word  "temple"  is  not  the  common  word; 
it  is  Naos,  the  Shrine,  the  Sanctuary  of  God, 
the  Inner  Shrine.  How  can  anybody  become 
such  after  the  description  given  in  Matthew 
of  the  depth  to  which  it  may  degrade? 
Well,  this  is  the  way. 

One  day  at  the  door  of  that  Shrine  the 
Saviour  stands  knocking,  as  you  may  have 
seen  in  Holman  Hunt's  inimitable  painting 
Christ  at  now  in  St.  Paul's  Cathedral,  "Behold  I  stand 
the  heart°^«^  l^c  door  and  knock."  Why  does  He  knock? 
Why  not  come  in  without  knocking?  Be- 
cause the  door  of  that  shrine  has  only  got  a 


THE  INNER  SHRINE  67 

handle  on  its  inner  side,  for  no  one  can  enter 
my  spirit  but  by  my  own  will.  You  may 
admit  devils  there,  or  you  may  admit  the 
Christ  of  God.  You  may  be  possessed  by 
the  one  or  the  Other. 

So  there  stands  the  One  who  is  the  Way  to 
the  Father  of  spirits  at  the  door:    ^^ Behold 
I  stand  at  the  door  and  knock."    As  I  pointed 
out  in  the  last  Study,  when  we  stand  at  His 
door    there    is   no    knocking.     His    door   is  Christ's 
always  open;    but  the  door  of  our  heart  is  always 
not.     "I  am  the  door  " — there  is  no  need  of  a  ^^^^' 
handle  there,  for  the  door  stands  open  wide; 
''by  me,  if  any  man  enter  in"  —  there  is  no 
knocking  there.     We  never  have  to  knock, 
but  Christ  always  has,  and  the  difference  is 
because  we  control   the   door   of   our   own 
spirits  by  our  will,  whereas  the  door  of  the 
way  of  hfe  admits  all.    That  door  is  ever 
open,  ours  is  ever  shut. 

When  we  Hke  to  turn  the  handle  of  the 
door,  when  we  willingly  receive  Him,  and 
when  we  say, "Enter  into  my  heart  and  make 
it  a  Hving  sanctuary  of  God,"  the  thing  is 
done.  But  it  must  be  by  our  own  will  that 
the  door  of  our  heart  is  opened. 

Let    me    just    repeat   that    once   again. 


68      STUDIES  IN  THE  fflGHEST  THOUGHT 

Christ's  door  is  never  shut;  we  never  have 
to  knock,  but  He  always  has;  because  the 
door  of  our  heart  is  shut,  and  it  can  only 
be  opened  by  our  own  will. 

There  is  only  one  thing  that  can  come  into 

us  without  our  will,  and  that  is  something  we 

would  never  willingly  admit.     You  will  find 

Death        Jt  SDoken  of  in  Jeremiah,  ix.  21,  ^^For  death 

comes  ,  . 

without      is  come  up  into  our  windows.^'    That  is  the 

knocking.  .  . 

way  death  comes  m.  it  cannot  come  in  by 
the  door  because  we  would  never  admit  it, 
so  it  comes  in  by  the  window  when  we  are 
not  looking.  It  carries  us  off  without  our 
will.  Death  comes  in  without  leave,  but 
life  can  only  come  in  by  our  leave.  We  can 
keep  Hfe  out,  but  we  cannot  exclude  death. 

As  I  have  already  shown,  we  may  open  this 
shrine  to  evil  spirits  or  to  Christ,  but  it  is 
our  will  that  must  open  to  either. 

Now  supposing  that  we  hear  One  knocking 
at  the  door  of  this  shrine,  and  our  will  opens 
the  door,  what  happens?  We  are  described 
in  the  scripture  as  then  being  "Born  again 
by  the  Holy  Spirit."  That  is  to  say,  Christ 
Christ  enters,  and  by  His  Spirit  He  takes  possession 
takes  pos-  q£  ^]^g^^  inner  shrine,  and  proceeds  to  make  it 

session.  '  ^ 

his  sanctuary  and  temple  of  glory.    We  are 


THE  INNER  SHRINE  69 

then  described  as  having  a  new  nature,  a 
new  heart,  and  a  new  man. 

As  a  reality  that  word  "new"  means  that 
nature,  heart,  and  man  are  so  entirely  taken  There  is  a 
possession  of  by  a  fresh  Power  and  conse- '^^'^  ^**^* 
crated  to  a  new  use,  as  to  make  them  prac- 
tically new  organs  and  beings.  That  is  what 
it  comes  to.  It  is  not  really  that  any  new 
parts  or  organs  are  added  to  us,  but  there 
is  a  new  power  within:  and  we  open  our 
hearts  under  the  influence  of  the  Highest 
Thought  to  the  Spirit  of  our  Father,  the 
Holy  Spirit:  He  takes  possession  of  our  heart, 
and  we  become  the  sanctuary,  or  shrine,  or 
temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 

What  do  we  find  in  this  Shrine?  What 
was  in  the  Holy  of  Holies  in  the  Tabernacle? 
What  do  we  see  there?  We  see  an  Ark  and 
inside  that  Ark  there  are  three  things.  We 
see  the  Tables  of  the  Law,  a  little  pot  of 
manna,  —  the  bread  that  came  down  from 
Heaven,  and  Aaron's  rod  that  budded, — the 
type  of  the  eternal  priesthood. 

What   do    we   find  in   our   inner   shrine? 
Three  things.     The  law,  as  in  the  Ark  of  the  The  law, 
Covenant, —  "  Thy  law  is  within  my  heart."  ^^^Y^^^"^ 
That  is  the  first.     The   manna,   the  bread  J'^^^^'^^e 


70      STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 

that  came  down  from  Heaven;  the  humble 
Christ,  lowly  in  heart,  come  down  from 
Heaven  into  my  soul.  The  rod  that  budded 
—  the  eternal  priesthood  of  Christ  for  me. 
The  law  of  God  the  Father;  the  humility  of 
Christ,  the  Son;  the  priesthood  appointed, 
realised,  and  enjoyed  by  the  Holy  Spirit. 

Anything  more  in  my  shrine?  Yes,  — 
everything,  as  in  the  Holy  of  Holies,  is 
Crinkled  Sprinkled  with  blood.  We  may  reach  the 
with  blood,  iiiglier  thought,  or  other  stages  of  thought, 
but  we  cannot  attain  to  the  Highest  Thought 
without  this  element.  I  know  it  is  naturally 
repugnant  to  our  feelings.  I  grant  it  leaves 
no  room  for  pride;  but  nevertheless  it  is 
essential,  if  my  heart  is  to  be  a  sanctuary,  a 
holy  shrine,  an  inner  shrine,  that  everything 
should  be  sprinkled  and  purified  with  the 
blood  of  the  Lamb.  We  cannot  enter  the 
Divine  Way  but  by  redemption  or  atone- 
ment, innumerable  as  the  efforts  have  been 
in  these  later  days  to  do  so.  The  moment 
we  try  to  do  so,  we  leave  the  region  of  the 
Highest  Thought;  we  step  off  the  Way,  and 
are  plunged  into  a  morass  of  human 
opinions, 
dea^ti^"*^  ^     So  that,  although  there  is  glory  in  this  golden 


THE  INNER  SHRINE  71 

shrine  consecrated  to  God,  the  blood  gives  a 
solemn  element  to  it,  because  it  speaks  of 
death  as  the  source  of  hfe.  We  may  sing, 
and  tune  our  harps  with  a  glad  song  to  our 
Heavenly  Father  of  spirits,  but  it  will  always 
be  ^'with  a  solemn  sound'''  (Psalm  xcii.  3),Onthe 
because  our  joy  has  been  purchased,  as  we  re-  a  solemn 
member,  by  blood  at  infinite  cost  to  Another. 

Is  there  anything  else  inside  this  shrine? 
Yes.  The  gold  of  that  Ark  and  the  gorgeous 
colours  in  the  Holy  of  HoHes  would  look  very 
dull  indeed  were  it  not  for  a  Ught  beyond 
the  brightness  of  the  Sun  which  illumines 
this  shrine. 

What  we  need  to  realise  is  that  this 
shrine  is  in  us  at  the  present  moment  if  we 
have  opened  our  hearts  to  that  knocking, 
and  that  within  us  shines  a  glory  beyond  the 
brightest  earthly  Hght,  just  as  between  the 
Cherubim  there  was  the  Shekinah  of  Glory,  ence  oP^ 
the  evidence  of  the  presence  of  Almighty  ^^^  ^^^^'° 
God. 

"But,"  you  may  say,  "you  are  not 
going  to  tell  me  that  there  is  anything  in 
the  Bible  that  warrants  the  thought  that 
there  can  possibly  be  the  presence  of  the 
Godhead  in  me  as  I  read  this?    Indeed  the 


72      STUDIES  IN  THE  fflGHEST  THOUGHT 

thought  seems  to  me  to  be   bordering  on 
blasphemy." 

In  spite  of  this,   I  must  answer  *'Yes," 

The  and  if  you  deny  it  you  must  consider  the 

may'dwell  Bible,  which   afiGirms  this,  to  be  unworthy 

within.      ^£  (,j.g(ji^_     "Your  body  is  a  temple  of  the 

Holy  Ghost  which  is  in  you."    Is  not  that 

God?    "Yes,"  you   say,  "that  is  God  the 

Spirit,  but  what  about  the  Father  and  the 

Son?"    Well,  let  me  just  read  about  them. 

There  are  only  two  places  in  the  Bible  where 

the  Father  is  said  to  dwell.     One  is  in  the  high 

and  holy  Heaven,  which  He  inhabits  eternally, 

and  the  other  is  in  the  human  heart.     Look 

at  John  xiv.  23,  where  it  says:    "If  a  man  love 

me  he  will  keep  my  words.    My  father  will  love 

him  and  we"  —  Father  and  Son  —  "will  come 

unto  him  and  make  our  abode  with  him." 

My  words  as  to  this  Di\dne  mystery  must 

The  light   be  few.    The  sense  of  awe  is  profound  as  we 

withfil"'^^   hear  such  words  and  try  to  realise  for  one 

moment  that  God  the  Father,  God  the  Son, 

and   God  the  Holy   Ghost  absolutely  may 

make  Their  abode  in  the  inner  shrine  of  the 

spirit  of  poor  human  beings  like  ourselves, 

and  produce  there  a  light  and  a  glory  above 

the  brightness  of  the  sun. 


THE  INNER  SHRINE  73 

Well  may  I  say  this  is  a  mystical  subject.  A  deep 
Well  may  I  say  it  is  the  deepest  of  all  sub-  ^^^  ^^' 
jects,  —  to  consider  God  as  not  afar  off,  to 
consider  God  as,  not  merely  in  Heaven,  but 
as  being  within.  Our  hearts  are  indeed  the 
only  places  on  earth  where  God  the  Father 
is  said  to  dwell. 

Just  think  of  this  amazing  fact  that  God 
dwells  in  the  heart  of  the  one  who  is  obedient 
to  His  word.  *' Shall  we  not  much  rather  be 
in  subjection  to  the  Father  of  spirits  and  live?" 
What  happens?  If  we  do,  our  hearts  are 
irradiated  by  His  Presence;  and  truly  we  may 
then  be  said  to  begin  to  Hve.  Listen  to  the  inward 
these  marvellous  lines  of  Faber  on  the  subject:  ''"^°'^^- 

"  But  God  is  never  so  far  off, 
As  even  to  be  near, 
He  is  within,  Our  spirit  is, 
The  home  He  holds  most  dear; 

To  think  of  Him  as  by  our  side, 

Is  ahnost  as  untrue 
As  to  remove  His  Throne  beyond, 

Those  skies  of  starry  blue. 

So  all  the  while  I  thought  myself 

Homeless,  forlorn,  and  weary. 
Missing  my  joy,  I  walked  the  earth, 

Myself  God's  Sanctuary." 


74      STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 

Who  will  ever  be  weary  and  lonely  again 

once  they  know  the  glory  of  the  Inner  Shrine? 

It  is  out-       Qng  word  here,  however,  of  great  impor- 

side  con-  '  .  . 

sciousness.  tancc.  We  are  never  conscious  of  this  Inner 
Shrine.  You  may  consider  long  and  may 
say  "where  is  this  shrine,  where  can  I  locate 
it?  Whereabouts  can  I  place  it  within  me? 
You  tell  me  of  these  glories;  the  Bible  assures 
me  of  them;  they  are  doubtless  true,  but 
no  ray  of  consciousness  seems  able  to  reach 
that  secret  place  where  God  dwells.  I  am 
wholly  unconscious  of  it. 

"I  concentrate  my  thoughts,  and  try  to 
realise  that  I  carry  witliin  me  the  glorious 
shrine.  But  it  is  quite  unknown  to  my 
consciousness." 

And  is  in        "No,  it  is  in  the  region  of    the    uncon- 

the  uncon-  '  ° 

scious  scious  mind."  Deep  in  the  recesses  of  un- 
consciousness  Hes  hidden  this  Holy  of  Hohes. 
Just  as  in  the  Holy  of  Holies  of  old  no 
man's  foot  was  ever  allowed  to  enter,  no  eye 
was  ever  allowed  to  gaze  on  those  hidden 
glories,  so  into  this  Inner  Shrine  no  ray  of 
consciousness  may  ever  penetrate. 

God  could  have  placed  it  in  conscious- 
ness if  He  had  wished,  so  that  we  could 
have  studied  it.    Why  has  not  He  done  so? 


THE  INNER  SHRINE  75 

Because    He    does    not    wish    this    Divine 
Presence  wdthin  to  be  an  object  of  adoration  no  adora- 
or  of  study,  but  a  source  and  centre  of  power,  sdves^"""^' 
He  wants  to  turn  our  thoughts  objectively 
to  Himself  in  Heaven. 

When  we  pray  to  God  we  do  not  pray  to 
God  \vithin,  although  He  may  be  dwelKng 
there.  We  pray  to  our  Father  which  is  in  we  pray  to 
Heaven.  He  wants  us  always  to  direct  our  heaven, 
thoughts  outwardly  by  the  power  that  directs 
them  from  within.  The  blessing  of  our 
lives,  the  spring  of  our  joy,  the  source  of  all 
good  deeds,  thoughts,  aspirations,  lie  in 
this  glorious  Shrine  within,  but  never  is  it  to 
be  an  object  or  a  centre  of  self-consciousness. 

God  has,  therefore,  in  His  infinite  wis- 
dom placed  it  beyond  the  gaze  of  introspec- 
tion. We  never  can  reach  God  by  thinking 
of  ourselves.  What  we  have  to  do  is  to  rec- 
ognise the  fact  of  His  indwelling,  and  then 
from  it  we  get  Almighty  Strength :  and  some- 
times a  voice  speaks  to  us  from  thence. 

We  say  at  times  "A  thought  struck  me"; 
or,   "Do  you  know   I  felt  impelled   to  go 
there;"  or  "I  felt  obliged  to  speak  to  that 
man."     Many  of  us  know  something  of  this  The  inner 
inner  guidance.     This  shrine  that  is  within  is 


76       STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 

indeed  the  source  of  inspiration,  the  centre 
of  all  blessing  in  our  lives. 

In  connection  with  this  there  is  a  word  in 
Matthew,  vi.  6,  which  is  capable  of  two 
interpretations:  "J5w/  thou,  when  thou  pray  est, 
enter  into  thine  inner  chamber  J  ^  The  word  is 
The  closet,  not  "closet";  it  means  also  "treasure  house," 
house.  *' store-house,"  or  "barn";  and  many  think 
it  is  retiring  into  our  inner  consciousness  and 
praying  from  there  "/o  thy  Father  which  is 
in  secret,  and  thy  Father  which  seeth  in  secret 
shall  recompense  thee.'"  I  am  not  sure  that 
this  is  the  force  of  the  passage,  but  it  is  an 
alternative  meaning  which  is  of  great  interest. 
Mr.  F.  W.  H.  Myers,  in  his  wonderful  poem 
on  St.  Paul,  refers  to  it  on  page  44.  If  any 
of  you  have  that  book,  it  will  be  an  inspira- 
tion for  you  to  read  the  lines,  which  are  too 
long  to  quote  here.  This  Presence  within 
is,  therefore,  a  source  of  power  and  joy,  and 
not  an  object  of  adoration  or  prayer. 

We  must  learn  to  distinguish  between  the 

different  voices  that  speak  to  us  from  within. 

IndoS"*'  "^^'^  Spirit  (with  a  capital  "S")  beareth  wit- 

spirit.        ^^^^  ^ijj^  Q^y  spirit  (with  a  small  "s")  that 

we  are  children  of  God.''    Our  spirit,  with 

the  little  "s,"  is  one  voice.    Then  there  is  a 


THE  INNER  SHRINE  77 

God's  Spirit  (with  the  capital  "S"),  living 
in  the  Inner  Shrine,  that  speaks  too;  that  is 
another  voice.  Can  we  distinguish  between 
these  two  voices?  The  two 

voices. 

Constant  introspection  is  not  good,  but  it 
comes  within  the  consideration  of  the  High- 
est Thought  as  to  whether  I  ought  not, 
more  clearly  than  I  do,  to  recognise  the  Voice 
of  God  when  it  does  speak  to  me,  and  to 
be  able  to  distinguish  between  His  voice 
and  my  own  impulses  and  wishes.  And 
yet,  for  want  of  practice,  we  often  mistake 
the  one  for  the  other,  and  often  do  our  own 
will  when  we  think  we  are  following  God's. 
All  this  is  a  matter  of  spiritual  growth. 

In  our  mystic  vocabulary  we  speak  of  a 
man  who  has  just  opened  the  door  of  his 
Inner  Shrine  to  the  knocking  outside  as  "a 
little  baby  ";  then  we  talk  of  the  one  who  has 
had  the  Shrine  in  his  heart  for  some  time  as 
"a  young  child";  then  we  become  "yo^iig 
men";  and  at  last  we  reach  the  "  full  grown  Growth  in 
man,"  the  spiritual  man,  one  who  has  all  his' 
senses  exercised,  not  only  to  discern  both 
good  and  evil,  but  to  distinguish  the  charac- 
ter of  the  inward  voices  that  speak  to  him 
from  the   recesses  of  his  unconscious  mind. 


grace. 


78        STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 

It  is  all  a  matter  of  practice;  it  is  all  a 
question  of  spiritual  education. 

I  would  suggest  to  those  Christians  who 
are  interested  in  the  invisible  world  and  in 
spirit  investigation,  whether  to  be  able  to  dis- 
tinguish between  the  voices  that  speak  to 
us  from  within  is  not  a  very  worthy  subject 
for  study. 

There  is  no  doubt  that  the  one  who  thus 
knows  and  understands  these  wonderful 
mysteries  of  which  I  have  spoken  so  imper- 
fectly in  this  book,  carries  a  stamp,  even  on 
the  poor  outward  body,  that  to  those  who 
have  eyes  to  see  is  unmistakable.  There 
is  a  quietness,  there  is  a  dignity,  there  is  a 
self-possession,  there  is  a  steadiness,  a  fixed 
purpose  in  his  life  and  actions  that  speak 
of  a  strong  Hand  at  the  helm,  a  Divine 
Captain  of  life's  ship,  —  the  Presence  of 
Almighty  God  in  that  Inner  Shrine. 

But  we  require  the  eye  of  faith  to  see 
these  glories!  These  lovely  and  pathetic 
verses  of  Francis  Thompson's,  written,  I 
doubt  not,  when  he  used  to  hold  the 
cabmen's  horses  at  Charing  Cross,  express 
what  we  miss  for  want  of  this  spiritual 
vision : 


THE  INNER  SHRINE  79 

"The  angels  keep  their  ancient  places:  — 
Touch  but  a  stone,  you  start  a  wing! 
'Tis  ye,  'tis  your  estranged  faces 
That  miss  the  many-splendoured  thing. 

But  (when  so  sad  thou  canst  no  sadder) 

Cry:  —  and  upon  thy  so  sore  loss 
Shall  shine  the  traflSc  upon  Jacob's  ladder 

Pitched  between  Heaven  and  Charing  Cross. 

Yea,  in  the  night,  my  soul,  my  daughter, 
Cry, —  clutching  Heaven  by  the  hems; 

Lo!  Christ  is  walking  on  the  water, 
Not  of  Gennesareth  —  but  Thames!" 

As  the  spirit  life  that  flows  from  the 
Presence  is  a  subject  of  such  deep  interest  and 
raises  so  many  questions,  I  will  defer  its  con- 
sideration until  our  next  Study  in  the  Highest 
Thought. 


"THE   SPIRIT   LIFE" 


FOURTH.  STUDY 

THE  SPIRIT  LIFE 

WE  have  now  arrived  at  the  fourth 
of  a  very  closely  connected  series  of  J^ai  result, 
studies  in  the  Highest  Thought.  We  have 
now  to  consider  what  is  the  result  in  prac- 
tical Hfe  of  our  past  studies,  and  I  hope  in 
the  closing  study  to  consider  the  future  out- 
look, which  depends  also  upon  the  position 
reached  in  the  first  three  lectures.  We  have 
seen  to  what  a  height  the  Highest  Thought 
soars;  and  I  would  beg  of  you  carefully  to 
compare  it  with  the  goal  at  which  any  other 
degree  of  thought  aims,  and  to  ask  yourselves 
whether  I  am  not  right  in  using  the  superla- 
tive in  these  studies. 

Does  not  our  subject  lead  us  higher,  deeper,  ^^'^^L°^ 
to  more  marvellous  thought  regions,  to  further 
spiritual  insight  than  any  other  class  of 
thought  known  to  us?  Some  may  object 
that  it  is  all  but  a  speculation,  or  a  phantasy, 
or  an  unproved  theory.  To  such,  of  course, 
83 


84     STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 

the  obvious  reply  is  that  those  to  whom  this 
class  of  thought  is  the  power  and  energy  of 
their  Hves  are  numbered  by  thousands.  Let 
us  briefly  recall  what  we  have  discussed  so 
far. 

uiaS"  W^  ^^"^^  before  us  as  a  fact  that  one  of 
us  may  be  sitting  and  reading  this  book  who 
is  in  touch  and  close  relationship  with  the 
Father  of  spirits. 

We  saw  next  that  to  gain  this  position  he 
reached  God,  by  means  of  the  Way,  across 
the  trackless  morass  and  the  impenetrable 
forests  that  stretch  between  the  human  and 
the  Divine.  Christ,  who  is  called  the  Way, 
has  opened  up  a  path  which  all  who  will  may 
tread;  and  all  those  who  know  the  Father 
of  spirits  with  this  wonderful  first-hand 
knowledge  have  trodden  this  Way. 

The  third  point  was  that  the  central  being 
of  this  one  of  whom  I  speak  has  thus  become 
a  Shrine,  —  a  Shrine  of  such  inconceivable 
splendour  and  glory;  a  Shrine  of  such  infi- 
nite holiness  that,  were  it  not  placed  beyond 
the  limits  of  our  own  consciousness,  the  sight, 
like  that  of  the  bush  that  burnt  and  was  not 
consumed,  would  be  too  great  for  us  to  bear. 

faith  alone.     All  this  is  invisible  and  grasped  by  faith 


THE  SPIRIT  LIFE  8$ 

alone.  Our  bodily  eyes  have  never  seen  the 
Father  of  spirits;  but  He  is  revealed  to  the 
eye  of  faith.  Our  bodily  eyes  have  never 
seen  the  Way,  but  our  spiritual  eyes  see 
Him  now.  The  Inner  Shrine  has  never  been 
seen  by  mortal  vision,  but  it  is  apprehended 
by  faith  at  this  moment.  There  can  be  no 
doubt,  therefore,  that  Christians  are  true 
mystics,  since  all  the  realities  of  which  I 
speak,  connected  with  the  highest  thought, 
are  necessarily  invisible  to  our  conscious- 
ness. 

No  word  has  been  more  dragged  through 
the  mud  and  more  absolutely  abused  than  the 
word  "mysticism";  but  rightly  used  the  true  Mysticism. 
Christian  is  a  true  mystic.  He  walks  and 
hves  and  moves  in  an  invisible  world.  And 
what  is  so  remarkable  is  that  the  outside  of 
these  people,  Hke  that  of  the  butterfly,  is 
humble  and  prosaic  enough. 

These  mystics  are  seen  in  every  rank  and  Mystics 

•^  ^  "^  are  in 

walk  of  life.     You  will  find  them  amongst  day  every  rank. 

labourers  and  the  lowest  classes  in  the  slums : 

you  will  find  them  in  every  rank  and  grade 

in  our  army  and  navy;  you  will  find  them 

in  every  position  in  society  in  the  west  end 

of    London;  you  will  find   them  sitting  at 


86      STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 

their  cottage  doors  in  the  country,  or  work- 
ing in  the  fields;  behind  the  counter,  and  in 
the  kitchen. 

There  is  no  grade,   no  position,  no  class 
True         amongst  men  where  these  true  mystics  are 

mystics  are  r  i  •  •  i  •        i  i  •  i 

ciairvoy-  not  louud,  Carrying  withm  them  this  sacred 
Shrine,  and  in  daily  touch  with  the  Father 
of  spirits  by  means  of  the  one  true  and  only 
Way.  They  are  indeed  the  true  clairvoyants, 
for  they  see  Jesus;  the  real  clairaudients,  for 
they  hear  the  voice  of  God. 

Let  us,  then,  bear  this  fact  in  mind,  that 
those  who  have  grasped  the  Highest  Thought 
are  the  true  mystics.  All  their  deepest  real- 
ities Ue  in  a  world  that  cannot  be  seen.  Not 
only  so,  but  another  thing  characterises  them 
which  they  had  never  realised  before,  and 
that  is,  they  are  always  finding  themselves  in 

The  two-   two  places  at  once.    I  mention  that  again, 

fold  posi-  ...  1 

tion.         because  it  is  of  such  supreme  importance. 

No  one  can  enjoy  the  Highest  Thought  or 
true  Christianity  who  has  not  really  learned 
the  practical,  simple  secret  of  being  spiritually 
in  two  places  at  once.  I  appeal  again  to 
those  prosaic,  small  townsmen  of  Colosse  (I 
might  of  course  appeal  to  many  others)  who, 
walking  about  the  streets  of  that  small  Asi- 


THE  SPIRIT  LIFE  87 

atic  town,  were  all  the  time,  as  regards  their 
hidden  Ufe,  their  mystic  hfe,  in  Heavenly 
Places  in  Christ  Jesus. 

Their  spirits  were  at  Home  in  a  scene  of 
unspeakable  glory;  one  with  the  Maker  of 
the  universe,  one  with  the  great  Father  of 
spirits,  Who  had  become  in  very  deed  and 
truth  their  own  Father;  and  they  walked 
up  and  down  the  streets  and  lanes  of 
Colosse,  Hving  at  peace  with  God  in  their  Heaven 
spirits,  while  in  their  earthly  Uves,  as  Icoiosse. 
said,  they  passed  through  all  the  trials  and 
persecutions  of  the  early  Christians. 

When  one's  inner  life  thus  becomes  mystic 
and  Divine,  many  will  bear  me  witness  that  we 
make  great  discoveries;  we  begin  to  under- 
stand many  things  that  were  obscure ;  because 
Hving  on  such  a  lofty  plane,  we  can  naturally 
see  more  from  the  heights  than  we  can  from  the 
bottom  of  the  valley  where  we  formerly  lived. 

From  this  lofty  position,  then,  knowing  and 
living  in  this  Divine  atmosphere  which  I  have 
described,  we  begin  to  find  that  the  Unseen 
world  is  the  cause  of  everything;  that  the  Cause  and 

effect. 

Seen  world  is  the  efect,  —  that  all  things  that 
are  seen  and  temporal  are  merely  the  result 
of  what  is  unseen  and  eternal. 


88      STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 

We  begin  to  be  impressed  with  the  increas- 
ing unreality  of  all  things  visible;  it  is  not 
only  that  they  are  temporal,  but  that  they 
are  unreal;  and  we  begin  to  Hve  more  and 
more  in  realities  and  in  eternity. 

Many   schools   of    thought,    both   in   the 

eastern    mysticism    and    amongst    western 

sages,  and  in  our  own  church,  have  insisted, 

Theun-     jn  theory,  that  things  that  are  seen  are  un- 
reality of  •"  °  „,..,. 

the  real  and  illusory;  but  when  a  Christian  uves 

in  the  eternal  world  he  begins  to  treat  them 
as  such  more  and  more,  and  to  turn  to  prac- 
tical account  what  has  hitherto  only  been  a 
theory.     Take  a  simple  illustration. 

At  the  Holy  Sacrament  we  see  the  bread 
and  wine.  Every  time  we  communicate  the 
material  becomes  less  to  us,  and  the  soul  in- 
creasingly grasps  at  the  Reality  that  lies 
behind  the  sacred  elements,  which  becomes 
everything  to  us.  The  actual  bread,  how- 
ever substantial,  is  thus  a  vision,  a  figure;  the 
literal  wine,  however  real  its  presence  may 
be  in  the  cup,  is  after  all  the  unreal  thing. 
The  real  substance,  the  Divine,  is  what  lies 

„,    ^        behind. 

The  Quest  ,  ,         ,  „    ,  i-  i 

of  the  You   remember    the    beautiful    mediaeval 

GraTl.        story  of  King  Arthur  and  the  quest  of  the 


THE  SPIRIT  LIFE  89 

Holy  Grail.  I  am  told  by  those  who  have 
studied  the  subject  that  the  quest  of  the  Holy 
Grail  is  just  that  mystery  which  every  Chris- 
tian seeks  at  the  Holy  Communion,  and  that 
is  the  endeavour  to  grasp  the  substance 
behind  the  figure.  The  man  who  sees  only 
the  bread  and  wine  sees  nothing. 

We  have  to  see  the  Invisible  to  see  the  J^^.  '"J''^'- 

ble  IS  the 

Real,  these  elements  being  but  figures  of  the  real. 
True;  and  we  come  at  last  to  find  that 
shadows,  figures,  and  images  are  natural 
and  visible  and  material;  whereas  substances, 
reahties,  originals  are  spiritual  and  invisible 
and  immaterial. 

I    propose    now    in   this   study   that    we 
should  consider  together  some  points  in  the 
spirit  Uf e  as  thus   lived  —  the   mystic   Hfe ;  Seven 
and  I  shall  speak   very  briefly  upon  seven  istics  of 
characteristics  that  mark  it  out  distinctly:  mystics, 
so  that  if  you  observe  a  person  with  these 
characteristics  you  may  be  pretty  sure  and 
certain  you  have  got  hold  of  a  true  mystic; 
in  other  words,  a  true  Christian. 

The  first  characteristic  that  I  will  speak  of 
with  extreme  brevity  is  that  these  mystics  are  i-  They  are 
SATISFIED  people.     You  must  not  think  this 
is  such  a  common  thing;  that  there  is  nothing 


90      STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 

remarkable  about  it.  As  a  matter  of  fact, 
one  of  the  most  uncommon  things  to  find  in 
this  world  is  a  satisfied  man  or  woman. 

Some  time  ago  I  placed  a  trained  nurse 
with  a  patient.  The  patient  was  a  young 
girl  who  had  met  with  a  most  deplorable 
accident,  which  would  probably  render  it 
necessary  for  her  never  more  to  mix  in  the 
world,  but  to  spend  the  rest  of  her  days  in 
suffering. 

The  nurse  came  to  me  after  two  weeks  and 
said,  "I  thought  I  would  like  to  speak  to  you." 

I  said,  "What  is  it?" 

"Well,"  she  said,  "a  fortnight  ago  I  was 
An  agnos-  an  agnostic,  but  I  am  not  one  now.    When 

tic  nurse.  " 

I  was  a  Httle  child  I  used  to  beHeve,  but 
then  I  became  sceptical,  and  for  a  long  time 
I  have  not  thought  much  about  religious 
matters,  but  I  can  say  now  that  I  have 
become  a  true  believer." 

I  said,  "That  is  good  news;  how  did  it 
come  about?" 

She  replied,  "It  is  your  patient." 
I  said,  "What  has  my  patient  done?" 
She  answered,  "She  has  done  nothing." 
"Has  she  spoken  to  you?"  I  asked. 
"Not  a  word." 


THE  SPIRIT  LIFE  91 

"Then  what  has  made  the  change?" 

She  said,  "It  is  the  first  time  in  my  life  I^fgggj 
have  seen  a  really  satisfied  girl,  and  I  could  patient. 
not  stand  it.    I  thought,  if  Christ  can  satisfy 
her  He  will  satisfy  me." 

In  Psalm  xc.  14  you  read  these  words 
written  by  a  mystic  —  it  was  not  David,  — 
a  man  who  had  such  communion  with  the 
Invisible  that  when  he  came  amongst  men  he 
had  to  put  a  veil  over  his  face ;  for  the  bright- 
ness of  even  the  reflection  of  the  Almighty  was 
too   much   for   the   eyes   of   common   men. 

Moses,    the    man    of    God,    prayed    this  ?r^y"  °^ 

'     ^      •'  Moses 

prayer:  "Oh!  satisfy  us  early  (or  in  the 
morning  of  our  life)  with  Thy  mercy,  that 
we  may  rejoice  and  he  glad  all  our  days" 
Satisfy  us,  saturate  us,  fill  us  that  we  can 
hold  no  more! 

The  man  who  occupies  the  position  de- 
scribed in  the  last  three  Studies  is  satisfied, 
but  how  few  Christian  people  are!  One  of 
the  greatest  things  that  warns  people  off  from 
Christianity  is  the  fact  that  the  Christians  P'fatis- 

-^  ,  ned  Chns- 

they  meet  are  not  satisfied  men  and  women,  tians. 
They  are  like  poor  Jacob. 

No  man  ever  had  such  a  chance  as  he 
had  when  he  was  called  up  to  the  court  of 


92      STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 

Pharaoh,  the  monarch  of  the  then  world,  to 
talk  about  his  God,  But  all  he  could  do 
was  to  whine  and  grumble;  because  he  was 

Jacob's  not  satisfied:  —  ^^Few  and  evil  have  been  the 
'  days  of  the  years  of  my  life,  they  have  not 
attained  unto  the  days  of  the  years  of  the  life 
of  my  fathers.''^  "If  that  is  all  your  God  can 
do  for  you,"  I  can  hear  Pharoah  saying,  "I 
will  stick  to  my  idols;  they  can  do  just  as 
much  as  that." 

An  unsatisfied  believer  is  the  greatest 
advertisement  against  Christianity.  If  we 
enjoy  what  we  have  got,  and  show  it,  we 
are  witnessing  for  God,  and  one  satisfied 
Christian  does  more  for  Christianity  than 
fifty  sermons.  There  can  be  no  doubt  at 
all  about  the  rarity  of  a  man  who  wants 
nothing   for  himself! 

When  I  was  a  boy,  I  remember  that  my 

the  lak^e  °°  brother  and  I  used  to  skate  a  good  deal  on  a 
small  lake  near  where  we  lived.  We,  of 
course,  knew  exactly  when  the  ice  would  bear. 
Sometimes  when  we  put  our  skates  on  there 
would  be  two  or  three  hundred  people  stand- 
ing round  the  side  of  the  lake,  not  daring  to 
go  on,  thinking  it  would  let  them  through. 
But  we  had  no  fear,  and  skated  all  over  it. 


THE  SPIRIT  LIFE  93 

Then,  when  they  saw  us  enjoying  ourselves, 
cutting  figures  on  the  ice  and  having  a  very 
good  time,  —  that  made  them  resolve  to  enjoy 
themselves  too !  We  had  no  need  to  go  to  the 
bank  and  speak  to  them;  we  had  no  need  to 
write  a  book  like  this  for  them  on  the 
delights  of  skating;  exhortation  was  not 
necessary.  All  we  had  to  do  was  to  enjoy  Satisfac- 
ourselves,  and  once  they  saw  us  happy  they  enjoyment, 
could  not  stand  it.  Down  they  stooped  and 
buckled  on  their  skates,  and  the  lake  was  soon 
covered  with  them. 

What  made  the  change?  Satisfied  people. 
My  brother  and  I  were  satisfied,  and  we 
showed  it,  and  that  made  them  want  to 
come  on  the  ice  too.  And  what  wins 
doubters  now  is  a  satisfied  Christian,  if  only 
they  can  find  one.  The  first  trait,  or  stamp, 
of  the  true  mystic,  therefore,  is  a  satisfied 
heart. 

Just  look  for  a  moment  how  it  works  out 
through  the  day,  as  described  in  the  beginning 
of  Psalm  xcii.     "It  is  a  good  thing  to  gzT^e  it  is  a  good 
thanks  unto  the  Lord, "  —  this  means  a  good  give^ 
thing  for  us,  not  for  God.     It  does  us  good  to  ^  ^"  ^' 
give  thanks,  and  it  does  us  harm  to  grumble. 
*'It  is  a  good  thing  to  give  thanks  unto  the  Lord, 


94      STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 

and  to  sing  praises  unto  Thy  name,  0  most 
Eigh^';  and  then  follow  these  words,  ''to  show 
forth  thy  loving  kindness  in  the  morning,  and 
Ihy  faithfulness  every  night. ^^  Note  the  words 
"to  showy  Here  we  come  upon  something 
practical. 

It  is  no  use  vapouring  on  in  high-flown 
language,  describing  the  blessings  of  a  Chris- 
Showing  istian.  Men  are  tired  of  words,  but  they  are 
talking,  not  tired  of  looking  at  people.  Look  at  the 
nimiber  of  illustrated  papers  there  are  nowa- 
days. People  want  more  pictures,  and  they 
want  more  pictures  of  Christianity.  They 
are  tired  of  reading  about  it;  they  are  tired 
of  hearing  it  talked  about.  It  is  little  use 
going  to  a  man  and  talking  to  him  about 
the  loving  kindness  of  God.  What  we  have 
to  do  is  to  show  it  every  morning. 

"But,"  you  say,  "what  is  the  difference 
between  talking  and  showing?" 

It  lies  in  this:  we  can  talk  about  things 
that  we  have  not  got,  but  we  cannot  show 
anything  we  don't  possess.  If  I  asked  some 
ladies  to  show  me  their  diamond  rings,  only 
those  who  possessed  them  could  show  the 
rings,  but  all  could  describe  them. 

Talking    is    easy;    but   showing    requires 


THE  SPIRIT  LIFE  95 

possession.    If   I   am   to   show   the    loving  show 
kindness  of  God  every  morning  when  I  come  {^°fng 
downstairs  to  breakfast  and  all  through  the '^'°^'^^"- 
day,  I  must  possess  it. 

Therefore,  what  I  say  is  this,  —  "Never 
turn  the  handle  of  your  bedroom  door  and 
face  the  world  day  by  day  until  your  heart 
is  saturated,  satisfied  with  the  loving  kind- 
ness of  God.     Then  you  will  go  out  and  be  Ail  through 

the  day. 

a  credit  to  your  Father  all  the  day,  other- 
wise you  will  probably  be  a  disgrace.  You 
may  be  cross  at  breakfast,  and  you  may  fail 
to  show  that  you  are  a  Christian  and  a  son 
or  daughter  of  the  Lord  God  Almighty 
through  the  whole  day. 

With  regard  to  nerve  patients,  I  find  that 
one  of  the  finest  things  for  them  is  to  have 
their  breakfast  in  bed,  and  the  reason  of  this  b  bed. 
is  because  it  means  a  satisfied  physique  before 
facing  a  cold  world.  In  the  same  way  we 
need  a  satisfied  spirit  before  facing  the  day's 
work,  a  heart  full  of  the  loving  kindness  of 
the  Lord.  Then  we  shall  be  a  credit  instead 
of  a  disgrace  to  our  Heavenly  Father. 

Then,  when  we  go  to  bed  at  the  end  of 
the  day  —  ^'Thy  faithfulness  every  night. ''^ 
WTiat   a   delightful    thing!    What   a   lovely 


96      STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 

sleeping  draught!  What  a  pleasure  to  lay 
one's  head  upon  one's  pillow  and  be  able  to 
recall  God's  faithfulness  all  through  the  day, 
—  thus  showing  forth  His  loving  kindness 
in  the  morning,  and  His  faithfulness  every 
night.  Satisfaction  with  his  new  Home  and 
life  is  therefore  the  first  mark  of  the  mystic. 
The  second  characteristic  is  that  we  are 
2.  They     FREEMEN.     That  is  another  point  that  very 

are  free-  ^  ,       ,  ^  '' 

men.  many  of  us  miss.  I  will  just  refer  you  to 
the  text:  "^o  speak  ye  and  so  do  as  men  that 
are  to  he  judged  by  a  law  oj  liberty.^''  We  are 
free  men  and  free  women  once  we  have  got 
hold  of  this  Highest  Thought  in  our  souls, 
for  this  reason  —  the  control  of  our  Uves  is 
now  from  within,  and  not  from  without. 
In  ordinary  society  men  and  women  are 
controlled  from  within  by  their  own  wills. 
People  who  have  to  be  controlled  from 
without,  by  force,  are  convicts  and  evil 
characters,  and  have  to  be  shut  up  within 
four  walls  with  spikes  at  the  top.  In  there 
alone  they  are  safe,  because  they  have  no 
inner  principle  to  guide  them  aright.  Herein 
is  all  the  difference,  —  a  good  man  requires  no 
outward  control;  but  a  convict  does.  The 
former  is  always  free;  the  latter  never. 


THE  SPIRIT  LIFE  97 

I    illustrated    this    point    in    our    second 
Study  by  the  story  of  my  dog  with  a  chain 
round  its  neck.     That  is  outward  control; 
he  cannot   run  about,  he  can  do  nothing. 
But  the  moment  he  has  learned  to  love  his  The  hw  of 
master,  the  moment  he  has  learned  his  rela-  uberty. 
tionship   to   him,   there   is   a  spiritual   link 
formed  between  that  poor  dog's  heart  and 
his  master's,  and  outward  restraints  are  no 
longer  needed;  he  is  controlled  from  within. 
The  steel  chain  is  gone,  but  the  dog  follows 
at  his  master's  heels  with  unswerving  obedi- 
ence, because  he  is  now  chained  by  the  law 
of  love;  a  slave  and  yet  free. 

The  reason  the  Christian  is  free  is  because 
God  has  got  his  heart,  and  if  God  has  not 
got  his  heart,  he  had  far  better  stop  between 
four  walls  and  be  shut  up  there  to  be  kept 
safe.  But  once  he  has  been  brought  to  this 
Father  of  spirits,  once  the  Divine  influence 
has  come  into  his  heart  so  that  God's  Will  is  God's  win 
done  on  earth  by  that  man  as  it  is  done  in 
Heaven,  i.e.  as  a  delight  and  a  pleasure,  — 
that  man  is  a  free  man. 

''Where  the  Spirit  of  the  Lord  is  there 
is  liberty."  "Stand  fast,  therefore,"  in  this 
liberty,  we  are  told.     "So  speak  ye  and  so 


98      STUDIKS  IN  Tin;   MKillKST  THOUGHT 

do,  (IS  men  thai  arc  to  he  judged  by  a  law 
of  liberly;''  jumI  this  l.iw  of  liluTly  is  llic  l.iw 
of  love.  The  second  point,  Ihen,  is  tluit 
IheHc  mystics  arc  not  only  Hatisficd,  but 
free. 
ciirlijiiiiiif*       I  ]  j.„  j^jj-  y^,j,  j^j^  Cliristi.'ins  lo  rcnicmbcr  tliis, 

und  JcwH.  '^        J 

The  Jews  were  not  free.     Tlicy  wnr  licdjM-d 

in  with  •').  w.'dl  tonnd  lliciii,  .iiid  sliiil  in  llicrc 

with  laws  to  keep  Ihcin  in  on  the  rif^iit  h;ind 

and  on  the  left.     '\\\v  Christian  is  in  a  <lif- 

fcrcnt  position;  he  is  a  free  man.     He  is  not 

1<»  I)c  WVv  ;i  horse  with  .1.  hit,  or  ;i.  nnilc  wilh  a 

bridle;  he    is    lo    be    ;^nide<|    by    (iod's    eye. 

Love  is  to  be  the  ruling  p.ission  of  his  life,  and 

the  only  fetter  that  he  knows. 

The  lliird  i)oint  Ih.'it  marks  the  mystic  is 

.1  Thry      fliat  he  is  siNCKKK  and  real;  there  is  no  sham. 

niiKcrp.  We  re;i(l  in  Romans  xii.  2:  ^^  liv.  not  Jiishioncd 
arcordiny.  In  litis  -irorld,  hut  he  ye  transformed 
by  the  rntnvinn  of  your  luiudy  That  word, 
"fashioned,"  means  "cut  out  from  a  pattern" 
jis  a  dress  is  rut  out.  Do  not  be  cut  out  from 
the  old  p.illern,  I'.ul  instead  of  r<;a,din^  "be 
ye  transformed,"  wlii(  h  is  a  (Iirf<Tent  thonjdit 
alto^^ether,  we  often  rendcT  it  "be  con- 
[orincd,  or  <  Ml  out  on  a  new  pallern." 
This  is  a  real  denial  of  Christianity,  and  yet 


THE  SPIRIT  LIFE  99 

it  represents  perhaps  the  most  common  and 
popular  idea  of  what  it  is. 

We  think  when  we  are  Christians  we  must 
have  a  different  type  of  face,  a  different  style 
of  dress,  a  different  set  of  habits,  a  different 
circle  of  friends.  That  may  sometimes  be 
the  result  of  the  inward  change;  but  if  these  The  change 
are  used  to  advertise  our  Christianity ,  they  are  inward, 
the  denial  of  Romans  xii.  2.  For  the  apostle 
there  points  out,  that  whereas  with  regard 
to  the  world  there  was  this  outward  con- 
formity, in  Christianity  it  is  not  to  be  re- 
placed by  an  outward  conformity  to  religion, 
but  that  the  change  is  now  to  be  on  a  new 
principle,  an  inward  transformation  from  the 
centre  of  our  being. 

All  that  is  of  value  in  God's  sight,  in  any 
change  that  takes  place,  must  be  the  result  of 
this  power,  flowing  from  the  Inner  Shrine 
which  He  has  set  up  in  the  heart.  The  trans-  Trans- 
formation should  come  from  there;  but  some- is  not 
times  it  does  not.  People  lay  down  laws  as  to 
certain  things  Christians  must  do  and  certain 
things  they  must  not  do;  so  that  believers 
are  often  as  alike  as  a  row  of  peas,  or  a  street 
of  suburban  villas;  whereas  if  "we  are  trans- 
formed by  tlie  reneviing  oj  our  minds, '^  it  is 


lOO      STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 


Christians 
not  all 
alike. 


Fictitious 

graces 

easy. 


Unreality 
despised. 


a  real  thing;  no  two  of  us  attain  to  exactly 
the  same  level  or  are  precisely  the  same. 

Each  one  of  us  walks  before  God,  and 
there  is  no  settled  rule  that  can  apply  to 
all,  because  our  Ufe  is  the  result  of  living 
growth.  Some  have  shot  up  an  inch,  some 
two  inches,  some  are  a  foot  high,  according 
to  the  measure  to  which  each  of  us  has 
attained  from  the  inward  transformation  of 
the  soul. 

The  other  method,  however,  is  very  spe- 
cious. It  is  so  easy  to  put  on  fictitious 
graces ;  it  is  so  easy  to  compound  for  a  proud 
heart  by  putting  on  a  humble  face.  It  is  so 
easy  to  shield  a  turbulent  spirit  under  a  quiet 
dress.  This  is  not  Christianity.  Christianity, 
to  be  of  the  slightest  value  to  God,  or  I  will 
add  to  man,  must  spring  from  the  centre 
of  the  being,  from  where  God  Himself  Hves 
in  that  human  being;  and  because  it  is  so 
often  otherwise,  great  reproach  has  fallen 
upon  Christians. 

I  do  believe  that  half  the  contempt  that  is 
showered  by  men  of  the  world  upon  so  many 
of  us  is  because  they  have  a  feeling  that  all 
is  not  genuine.  They  see  in  the  actions  of 
Christians    a   want    of    reality    somewhere; 


THE  SPIRIT  LIFE  lOI 

whereas  the  basis,  the  essence  of  a  Christian 
is  that  he  should  be  sincere,  that  he  should 
pretend  to  no  virtue  that  he  has  not  got, 
that  nothing  about  him  should  be  put  on 
from  without,  but  should  be  the  residt  of  a 
transformation  from  within. 

I  have  in  mind  an  illustration  of  this  that 
is  connected  with  flowers.  A  gardener  pre- 
paring chrysanthemums  for  a  Flower  Show  story  of  the 

111  chrysan- 

has  his  greenhouse  full,  and  each  plant  appar-  themum 
ently  bears  three  perfect  blooms  on  one  stalk. 
The  master  goes  round  the  greenhouse  the 
day  before  the  Show,  and  sees  a  fine  display, 
and  congratulates  his  gardener.  The  man 
replies,  "Yes,  but  I  have  had  a  good  deal  of 
trouble  with  them. " 

Then  when  the  master  begins  to  look  closely 
at  some  of  the  plants  and  happens  to  touch 
a  bloom,  he  has  a  great  surprise.    Lo  and  be- 
hold, on  examination  he  finds  a  paper  flower,  Paper 
a  paper  chrysanthemum,  fastened  on  to  the  °^^"* 
stalk.     He  says,  "What  on  earth  is  this?" 

The  gardener  says,  "I  have  been  obliged  to 
make  flowers  for  some  of  them.  Each  stalk  is 
supposed  to  have  three  blooms  on  it.  Some 
only  had  one,  and  others  two,  so  that  I  was 
obliged  to  make  the  number  up  with  paper." 


102      STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 

Imitation       jt  is  the  samc  with  us.    We  imagine  we 

virtues.  ° 

are  obliged  to  display  a  certain  number  of 
virtues  as  Christians,  and  if  we  do  not  pos- 
sess them,  then  they  have  to  be  assumed. 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  this  is,  not  only 
a  short-sighted  policy,  but  it  has  nothing  to 
do  with  the  Highest  Thought,  it  has  nothing 
to  do  with  God.  It  is  wrong  merely  to 
assume  a  good  outward  appearance  before 
men.  Let  us  be  real  at  all  costs,  natural 
or  rather  spiritual,  and  never  artificial;  and 
if  we  have  not  progressed  so  far  as  other 
Christians,  if  we  do  not  see  eye  to  eye  with 
our  friends,  let  us  at  least  be  genuine  in 
what  we  do,  and  let  us  not  pretend  to  be 
virtuous  beyond  the  measure  to  which  we 
have  attained.  The  three  points  we  have 
emphasised  so  far  then  are  that  the  true 
Christian  is  satisfied,  free,  and  sincere. 
The  next  point  is  that  this  man  is  deeply 
4.  They  SYMPATHETIC.  You  might  very  well  get  the 
pathetic,  idea  from  looking  at  one  side  of  the  picture 
that  you  had  to  do  with  a  selfish  character, 
but  so  far  from  that  being  true,  there  is  no 
man  who  should  be  so  sympathetic,  and 
thoughtful  for  others,  as  the  true  Christian. 
He  has  every  need,  every  desire,  as  I  have 


THE  SPIRIT  LIFE  103 

already  said,  so  satisfied,  so  saturated,  that 
he  has  nothing  to  think  of,  or  ask  for,  or 
care  about  with  regard  to  himself.  His 
whole  heart  and  energies  are  not  only  thus 
set  free  for  others,  but  the  love  wherewith  t^^.  . 

1      •     1  in*  11-  Christian 

he  is  loved,  flowing  through  his  heart,  causes  loves  all. 
a  warm  spring  of  Divine  sympathy  and  love 
to  issue  forth  to  every  human  creature.     He 
thus  gives  out  what  God  has  given  him;  and 
so  he  becomes  a  source  of  blessing  to  others. 

The  next  point  is  that  the  Christian  is 
described  in  Scripture  as  salt,  that  is  to  say, 
he  is  a  strong  antiseptic.  Wherever  he  goes  s-  They 
he  kills  germs;  wherever  he  goes  he  stops  the  septic, 
plague.  I  do  not  think  that  as  we  sit  here 
we  have  the  slightest  idea  of  how  the  whole 
mass  of  London  and  other  great  cities  would 
go  to  corruption  if  it  were  not  for  the  salt 
of  Christianity  that  is  scattered  everywhere 
amongst  the  poor  and  criminal  classes. 

We  must  not  imagine  that  the  hordes  of 
the  East  End  of  London,  and  the  Socialists  SodaUsts 
and  anarchists  around  Leicester  Square  and  ^"  ^  '''^ 
elsewhere  are  kept  quiet  and  in  order  by 
the  constable  alone.  The  police  themselves 
would  be  the  first  to  testify  that  they  would 
be  powerless  in  numbers  and  in  every  other 


I04      STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 

way,  were  it  not  that  the  whole  of  the  lowest 

parts  of  London  is  honeycombed,  saturated, 

with  Christian  work,  which  so  softens  and 

humanises  the  spirit  that  the  germs  of  evil 

are  killed,  and  vast  numbers  of  this  lowest 

section  of  the  population  are  sweetened ;  and 

become  aseptic,  and  purified,  even  if  they  do 

not  become  actual  Christians  themselves. 

The  work  of  all   these  agencies   (I  need 

chds-°^    not   name   them,  though   I   am   immensely 

tianity.      struck  with  the  work  that  the  Salvation  Army 

is  doing  in  the  very  lowest  quarters*)   is  of 

such  an  antiseptic  nature  that  no  word  so  well 

describes  a  truly  working  Christian  as  salt. 

There  is  another  beautiful  characteristic 
about  salt  which  we  are  all  acquainted  with, 
and  that  is  it  makes  us  thirsty.  If  a  person 
takes  enough  salt,  nothing  will  satisfy  him 
but  a  long  draught  of  water.  If  you  want 
people  to  take  water,  give  them  plenty  of 
salt.  They  will  crave  for  it.  Salt  makes 
water  a  necessity. 

That  is  another  reason  why  these  mystical 

people  are  compared  to  salt,  because  they 

Salt  gives  make  others  take  a  draught  of  the  Water 

*See  especially  "Broken  Earthenware,"  by  H.  Begbie, 
as  to  this. 


THE  SPIRIT  LIFE  105 

of  Life,  and  this  Water  of  Life  is  none  else 
than  the  One  Whom  I  have  brought  before 
you  as  the  Way,  leading  straight  to  the 
Father  of  spirits. 

Now  the  sixth  point  is  that  Christians  are 
LUMINOUS.  You  must  not  imagine  that  this  6.  They 
Inner  Shrine  can  exist  in  the  recesses  of  our  luminous, 
spirits  without  shining  through  our  mortal 
bodies.  The  God  who  dwells  within  is  ^Uhe 
health  of  my  countenance.^^  So  even  the  face, 
the  poor  marred  face,  often  scarred  with  in- 
delible lines  of  sin,  is  transfigured. 

I  shall  never  forget  looking  at  the  battered 
face  of  an  old  prize-fighter  in  whom  this 
Inner  Shrine  had  been  illumined.  Although 
the  marks  of  sin  and  the  scars  of  the  fight 
were  absolutely  indelible,  his  face  was  trans- 
figured from  within  by  this  Divine  light  shin- 
ing through. 

Christian  men  and  women  should  be  lu-Light- 
minous;  they  are  lights  in  the  world,  holding 
forth  the  Word  of  Light,  the  Great  Light, 
the  Centre  of  Light,  of  which  they  are  the 
light-bearers.  Through  and  through  them 
shines  the  light  to  this  dark  world.  When 
I  come  to  speak  on  this  and  on  things  be- 
yond the  Veil,  in  our  last  Study,  we  shall 


lo6      STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 

see    then    what    an   extraordinary   position 
Christians  occupy  in  Heaven  with  regard  to 
this  question  of  light;  but  even  now  they 
are  Divinely  luminous. 
oMund"^^^     Luminosity  may  depend  upon  two  factors: 
nosity.       ^Yie  intensity  of  the  light,  or  the  transparency 
of  the  walls.    Men  in  health  and  strength  go- 
ing about  this  world  earnestly  doing  the  great 
Master's  work  with  heart  and  soul  are  on  fire 
with  zeal;  they  are  luminous  on  account  of  the 
intensity  of  the  flame  that  burns  within  them. 
Value  of        ;gu^  there  are  others,  sufferers  laid  aside 

sickness.  ' 

known  to  us  all,  who  are  luminous  on 
account  of  the  transparency  of  the  walls 
of  their  earthly  tabernacle.  The  body  is 
frail;  the  tent  is  about  to  be  taken  down; 
but  the  nearer  it  comes  to  that  point,  the 
more  liuninous  and  powerful  and  bright  does 
the  light  shine  through  the  thin  walls,  until 
in  the  sick-room  we  seem  sometimes  to  be  in 
the  very  presence  of  the  Invisible  itself. 
I  am  one  who,  in  these  days  of  great  dispute, 
Lessons  in  am  perfectly  clear  that  suffering  and  sickness 
are  amongst  the  most  valuable  teachers  in 
the  School  of  God.  I  have  no  hesitation 
whatever  in  saying  it,  and  I  beHeve  I  can 
amply  prove  it  from  the  Word  of  God.    At 


THE  SPIRIT  LIFE  107 

any  rate,  to  prove  it  one  has  not  got  to  go  far, 
because  one  finds  it  demonstrated  everywhere. 

Not  only  are  lessons  taught  by  suffering  cannot  be 
and  sickness  that  are  never  learned  in  health,  elsewhere. 
but  the  expression  that  is  used  in  Romans  v 
is  used  nowhere  else  —  for  it  is  in  suffering 
and  crushing  down  that  the  love  of  God  is 
not  only  possessed  as  it  is  by  all  of  us  in 
health,  but  is  said  to  be  ^^  shed  abroad  in  our 
hearts  hy  the  Holy  Spirit"  What  does  "shed 
abroad"  mean?  Spread  out  Hke  a  fan,  as  in 
the  rainbow. 

Light  is  white,  but  when  it  is  shed  abroad 
and  split  up  it  becomes  seven  colours,  and 
you  get  every  shade.     So  I  believe  it  is  in  A  rainbow 
the  heart  of  the  sufferer  under  the  hand  of  heart. 
God  —  there  His  love  is  seen  in  such  variety 
and  in  such  beauty  as  nowhere  else. 

It  is  a  very  remarkable  thing  that  at  the 
head  of  many  of  the  greatest  Christian  works 
in  this  coimtry  there  has  been  a  weak  and 
suffering  woman,  a  person  apparently  too 
frail  to  undertake  such  a  task,  and  yet  so 
energised  by  the  Divine  Spirit  that  she  has 
accomplished  it.  All  this  I  just  say  in  passing, 
to  prove  that  I  believe  in  the  great  place  that 
suffering  has  in  the  School  of  God. 


io8      STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 
7.  They        Last  of  all,  these  people  are  loving.    Lest 

are  loving.  '^    ^  '^ 

you  forget  the  seven  points  let  me  repeat  them 
again:  they  are  satisfied,  they  are  free,  they 
are  sincere,  they  are  sympathetic,  they  are 
ANTISEPTIC  like  salt,  they  are  luminous,  and, 
last  of  all,  they  are  loving. 

In  connection  with  this  allow  me  to  refer 
just  for  one  moment  to  St.  John  xiii,  where 
we  get  the  most  beautiful  description  about 
Washing  the  washing  of  the  disciples'  feet,  familiar  to 
you  all.  What  may  not  be  familiar  is  the 
deeper  meaning  of  the  introduction  given  in 
the  3d  verse.  ''Jesus  knowing  that  .  .  . 
He  came  forth  from  God  and  goeth  unto  God 
riseth  from  supper  and  layeth  aside  His  gar- 
ment.''  This  is  taken  to  mean,  knowing  how 
august  He  was,  what  a  great  Person  He 
was,  that  He  had  come  from  God  and  was 
soon  going  back  to  God,  and  that,  in  spite 
of  this  grandeur  of  His  position.  He  was 
humble  enough  to  take  a  towel  and  gird 
Himself.  I  submit  that,  though  that  is  the 
only  meaning  we  generally  attach  to  it, 
there  may  be  a  deeper  thought  in  the  verse. 
The  further  point  I  think  is  that  God  is 
love.  I  would  put  it  then  in  this  way: 
*' Jesus  knowing  that  He  came   from  love, 


THE  SPIRIT  LIFE  109 

love  ineffable,  love  Divine,  and  was  going 
back  to  love,  love  ineffable,  love  Divine  — 
what  could  He  do  but  take  a  towel  and 
gird  Himself  and  wash  their  feet?"  It  is 
the  impulse  of  love,  knowing  that  love  was  The 
His  source,  love  was  His  goal.  Therefore  i^v^"^  ^^ 
He  loved  His  disciples  unto  death,  and  loved 
them  enough  to  wash  their  feet. 

And  if  we  know  we  have  come  from  God 
and  are  going  to  God,  we  will  take  a  towel  too, 
and  wash  the  feet  of  the  poorest  of  London. 
We  can  do  nothing  else,  because  we  have  come 
from  love.  We  are  loved  wdth  an  everlasting 
love  and  nothing  shall  ever  separate  us  from 
it:  WhsLt  then  can  we  do  but  love?  We  are 
bound  to  love,  if  that  is  our  source,  our  being, 
our  power,  our  end. 

It  is  beautiful  to  read  this  chapter  in  that 
light.  Knowing  He  was  come  from  a  God 
of  love  and  that  He  went  to  a  God  of  love, 
Christ  took  a  towel  and  girded  Himself. 
When  we  realise  how  much  we  are  loved, 
what  can  we  do  but  love  everybody  else?  I 
am  reminded  of  a  Christian  girl  who  wrote  Letter  on 
a  letter  to  me  once  about  a  poor  woman  °^^' 
who  had  a  drunken  husband.  She  writes, 
in  her  homely  way,   "All  I  can  say  to  her 


no      STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 

is,  'Cheer  up,  missus,  keep  on  loving  him, 
and  if  you  love  him  long  enough  perhaps 
it  will  be  all  right,'  as  God  loves  us  till  we  get 
like  Him  at  last."  Love  never  wearies.  It 
forgives  seventy  times  seven.  It  is  never 
vexed,  never  tired,  is  not  puffed  up;  you  can 
read  all  about  it  in  the  i  Cor.  xiii.  Love 
is  also  kind.  This  seems  a  poor  small  thing 
to  say  about  a  Divine  attribute,  about  a 
power  which  led  God  to  give  His  Son  for 
us,  which  led  Christ  to  die  for  us!  But  love 
which  begins  with  the  Cross  can  end  in 
common  kindness. 

On  the  shore  the  other  day  after  a  storm 
I  saw  little  ripples  dying  at  my  feet  on 
the  sand,  the  last  expression  of  a  mighty 
upheaval  out  at  sea.  So  —  "love  is  kind." 
The  Christian,  then,  who  has  been  himself 
so  loved  cannot  help  showing  it  if  we  realise 
what  our  Lord  realised  at  the  supper,  that  we 
come  from  God  and  are  going  back  to  God. 

May  I,  before  I  close  this  study,  be  allowed 
to  quote  a  poem  by  Gerhardt  Terstegen  of 
the  sixteenth  century,  which  may  be  new  to 
some,  and  which  greatly  bears  upon  our 
mystic  Study.  It  is  called  "The  Secret  of 
His  Pavilion." 


THE  SPIRIT  LIFE  III 

THE  SECRET  OF  HIS  PAVILION 
Hos.  xi.  14 

Allured  into  the  Desert,  with  God  alone  apart, 
There  Spirit  meeteth  spirit,  there  speaketh  heart  to 

heart. 
Far  far  on  that  untrodden  shore,  God's  secret   place  I 

find, 
Alone  I  pass  the  golden  door,  the  dearest  left 

behind. 

There  God  and  I  —  none  other;  oh,  far  from 

men  to  be! 
Nay,  midst  the  crowd  and  tumult,  still. 

Lord,  alone  with  Thee. 
Still  folded  close  upon  Thy  breast,  in  field  and 

mart  and  street. 
Untroubled  in  that  perfect  rest,  that  isolation  sweet. 

O  God!    Thou  art  far  other  than  men  have  dreamed 

and  taught, 
Unspoken  in  all  language,  unpictured  in  all  thought. 
Thou   God   art   God  —  he   only  learns  what  that  great 

Name  must  be. 
Whose  raptured  heart  within  him  glows  because  he  walks 

with  Thee, 

Stilled  by  that  wondrous  Presence,  that  tenderest 

embrace. 
The  years  of  longing  over,  do  we  behold  Thy  Face; 
We  seek  no  more  than  Thou  hast  given,  we  ask  no 

vision  fair; 
Thy  precious  Blood  has  opened  Heaven,  and  we  have 

found  Thee  there. 


112      STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 

O  weary  souls,  draw  near  to  Him;  to  you  I  can  but 

bring 
One  drop  of  that  great  ocean,  one  blossom  of  that 

spring; 
Sealed  with  His  kiss,  my  lips  are  dumb,  my  soul  with 

awe  is  still; 
Let  him  that  is  athirst  but  come  and  freely  drink  his  fill. 

G.  T,  S. 


BEYOND  THE   VEIL 


FIFTH  STUDY 

BEYOND  THE  VEIL 

BEFORE  entering,  to-day,  upon  our  sub- 
ject,  "Beyond  the  Veil,"  I  should  like 
to  make  one  remark  on  what  I   said  in  our 
Third  Study.     You  remember  that  I  dwelt 
very    strongly    on    the    fact    that,    however 
glorious  the  shrine  was  within  these  temples  The  inner 
of  our  bodies,  nevertheless  we  could  not  by  beyond^ 
any  consciousness  or  introspection  be  cogni- ^£33"°"^" 
sant  of  the  dwelUng  of  God  within  ourselves. 
In  our    last   Study,  however,  I    alluded   to 
the  fact  that  especially  in  afiliction  the  Love 
of  God  was  "shed  abroad"  or  "spread  out" 
in  our  hearts  by  the  Holy  Spirit. 

My  attention  has  since  been  called  to  the 
fact  that  by  putting  the  two  together  you  really 
see  God  within.     The  idea  to  me  is  very  beau- 
tiful, and  I  thankfully  pass  it  on  to  you.     It  is  We  know 
this,  that  although  by  no  effort  of  looking  in-  His 
side  ourselves  can  we  see  God,  we  nevertheless  ^  "  "  *■ 
can  see  the  Divine  attributes  or  quaUties. 
"5 


Il6      STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST   THOUGHT 

In  the  same  way,  when  we  look  at  the 
sun  we  never  can  see  it,  but  if  we  get  its 
rays  broken  up  by  a  prism  we  can  discern 
all  its  several  glories.  So  we  expect  to  find 
in  our  hearts,  from  the  inspiration  of  God 
within  us,  power,  faith,  patience,  love,  kind- 
ness, gentleness,  meekness,  in  a  measure  that 
surprises  ourselves,  and  all  of  which  we 
have  the  power  to  reproduce  in  our  lives, 
because  the  Source  of  them  all  dwells  within. 
Divine  This,  to  my  mind,  is  a  most  inspiring  and 

wthin  us.  invigorating  thought.  It  gives  power  to  the 
weak,  and  it  supplies  us  with  whichever  of 
these  virtues  we  feel  we  lack.  We  simply 
call  upon  the  power  within  us  to  give  us 
the  patience  we  need  at  the  time,  to  give  us 
the  gentleness,  to  give  us  the  faith,  to 
give  us  the  courage;  and  so  although  we  do 
not  see  God  within  us  we  can  be  cognisant 
of  the  graces  He  gives;  and  in  this  way,  as 
it  were,  through  a  prism,  we  discern  His 
glories  and  His  powers. 
Which  we       I  trust  this  is  fully  understood,  because 

can  count  •' 

upon.  the  thought  is  not  only  beautiful  but  of 
such  infim'te  practical  value  in  each  of  our 
lives  every  day  that  we  live.  We  can 
count  upon   these   virtues;  for  having  God 


BEYOND  THE  VEIL  1 17 

within  us,  we  have  all  that  He  is  and  can 
give.  Therefore  we  confidently  expect  that 
we  shall  have  patience  for  every  event,  that 
we  shall  have  power  for  every  undertaking, 
and  we  look  to  God  in  this  way  to  supply 
all  our  needs  according  to  His  riches  in 
Christ. 

Now,  coming  to  our  present  subject  to-day, 
"Beyond  the  Veil,"  we  ask,  first  of  all,  is  is  there  a 
there  a  "Beyond,"  or  does  all  Hfe  end  at  ^^^^ 
death?  Is  man  immortal  or  not?  The  three 
authorities  that  I  invoke  in  reply,  as  I  did 
in  regard  to  the  question  of  whether  there  was 
a  way  to  the  Father  of  spirits,  are  the  three 
voices  of  our  instinct,  of  our  experience,  and 
of  authority. 

Is  there  or  is  there  not  anything  "Beyond 
the  Veil?"  Instinct  replies,  Yes.  The  whole  instinct 
of  the  instincts  of  the  human  race,  civilised  "Yes." 
and  savage,  have  always  considered  that  life 
does  not  end  at  death,  but  somehow  or  some- 
where it  is  carried  on  Beyond  the  Veil.  The 
reply  of  instinct  therefore  is  in  the  affirmative. 

The  nature  of  experience  is  the  same.     Not  Experf- 
only  m  those  who  have,  after  having  died,  replies 

**  Yes." 

returned  from  the  dead,  of  whom  Jesus  Christ 
is  the  great  Example;   but  in  the  domain 


Ii8      STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 

of  science  experiments  without  end  have 
been  conducted  showing  undoubtedly  that 
manifestations  have  been  seen,  not  in  one 
but  in  thousands  of  authenticated  cases,  of 
those  whose  bodies  are  in  the  churchyard. 
There  is,  therefore,  quite  apart  from  Holy 
Writ,  a  scientific  experience  that  there  is  a 
life  or  an  existence  beyond  the  grave. 
I  invoke  last  of  all  the  Bible  as  the  voice 
Authority  of    authority.      The   inspired    voice    of    the 

replies 

"Yes."  word  of  God  speaks  unhesitatingly,  not  only 
to  the  fact  of  there  being  a  Beyond,  but  of 
what  happens  to  us  when  we  have  "crossed 
the  bar."  That  is  my  subject  in  this 
study.  We  therefore  need  have  no  hesita- 
tion whatever  —  of  course  I  need  hardly 
say  that  no  one  of  my  readers  probably  has 
—  in  believing  that  there  is  a  "Beyond  the 
Veil." 

But  when  we  come  to  speak  of  resurrection 
we  must  understand  that  the  resurrection  of 
man  is  not  proved  by  scientific  investigation; 
it  is  a  matter  of  pure  faith.     There  is  nothing 

No  scien-   j^  the  Scientific  world  to  estabfish  it.    There  is 

tific  proof  ,  .   •  r 

ofresur-     evidence  for  the  existence  of  a  spirit  after 

rection.  .  .        .~ 

death;   but   there  is  no  scientific  testimony 
to  say  that  the  body  shall  again  clothe  the 


BEYOND  THE  VEIL  II9 

immortal  spirit.  Nevertheless,  this  is  the 
sure  word  of  testimony  of  the  Living  God; 
and  it  is  so  sure  that  the  bodies  of  all  who 
beHeve  this  Word  are  sown  in  hope  of  a 
glorious  resurrection. 

It  so  happens  that  nearly  every  week  I 
have  to  travel  down  to  Brookwood  where 
there  is  a  very  great  cemetery.    I  see  there 
the  earth  covered  with  tombstones,  labelled 
with  the  names  of  the  deceased.    Before  I 
come  to  Brookwood  I  pass  a  series  of  nursery  ceme- 
gardens.    There  I  see  the  earth  covered  with  nursery" 
pieces  of  wood  in  rows,  labelled  with  the^"^^"^- 
names  of  the  seeds  that  are  sown  beneath. 
Both  the  bodies  and  the  seeds  are  sown  in 
hope  of  a  glorious  resurrection. 

The  little  seed  is  put  into  the  ground  in 
confident  expectation.  The  man  who  sows 
it  never  wants  to  see  that  seed  again,  and 
nothing  would  upset  him  more  than  if  that 
seed  came  up  again  in  a  resurrection.  "That 
which  thou  sowest  is  not  that  body  that  shall 
he,  hut  a  hare  grain,  perchance  oj  wheat 
or  some  other  grain." 

Is  it  not  the  same  at  Brookwood?  The 
bodies  that  are  sown  there  may  be,  and  very 
frequently  are,  aged  and  withered  and  bereft 


120      STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 

of  all  natural  beauty;  they  may  be  crippled 
and  diseased,  but,  whatever  they  are,  they 
are  but  the  seed.  They  are  not  that  body 
that  shall  be,  and  if  any  man  think  other- 
wise, St.  Paul  says,  ''Thou  fool '^ 
Seed  is  1         So  that,   comparing  the  nursery  gardens 

sown  in  .  ,       ,  x  ♦j  ^     .^ 

hope.  With  that  great  cemetery,  we  see,  in  each, 
labels  placed  above  the  seed  with  the  name 
of  the  seed  on  them,  the  idea  in  both  cases 
being  the  same;  that  there  is  going  to  be  a 
glorious  resurrection.  How  glorious  it  is  you 
have  only  to  go  down  that  hne  of  rail  in 
May  or  June  to  see.  The  bare  earth  is  gone. 
The  labels  are  all  vanished;  and  there,  cov- 
ering the  earth  with  many-coloured  starry 
splendour,  are  the  flowers,  the  glorified  bodies 
of  those  poor  Httle  seeds. 

Let  us  take  in  one  hand  a  few  seeds,    in 

Flowers      xhQ  Other  a  glorious  bunch  of  flowers  that 

and  seeds.  ° 

have   sprung   from   those   seeds;    and   then, 

perhaps,  for  the  first  time  we  shall  be  able  to 
*  fully  apprehend  the  difference  between  the 
I  body  that  is  planted  and  that  glorious  house 
\  from  Heaven  with  which  God  will  clothe  the 

immortal  spirit  on  the  Resurrection  morning. 
This  difference  is  very  important  —  and 

the  certainty  of  it  is  proved. 


BEYOND  THE  VEIL  I2I 

I  do  not  know   any  more  glorious  words 
in  Scripture  than  the  opening  words  in  the 
beginning    of    2    Corinthians    v.     ^^For  we^g^onom 
KNOW."    ''We    know    that    if    the  earthly'"''''^''''' 
house  of  our  tabernacle   be  dissolved,  we  have 
a  building  of   God,   a   house  not  made  with 
hands,  eternal,  in  the  heavens."     Surely  men 
and  women  with  such  certain  knowledge  as 
this  should   walk   the  earth  in   a   different 
fashion  from  those  who  know  it  not.     They 
may  well  Hft  up  their  heads,  for  their  redemp- 
tion draweth  nigh.     "  We  KNOW"  —a  mat- " We 
ter  of    assured,  solid,  quiet  conviction  and    °^* 
certainty,    founded    on    the    Divine    word. 
Such   is   what   the    Highest  Thought  leads 
us  to,  and  we  feel  that  there    is  no  room 
for  speculation    here,    it   being  to   all   who 
believe   the  Divine   revelation    an   absolute 
fact,  as  certain  as  any  law  of  nature.     ''We 
know." 

Now  between  the  sowing  of  the  seed  andTheinter- 

^  _  mediate 

this  glorious  Resurrection  morning  we  have  state, 
something  to  which  the  nursery  garden  can 
offer  no  analogy,  and  that  is  the  disembodied 
state.  Books  without  end  have  been  written 
about  this  mysterious  condition;  some,  of 
which  no  doubt  you  have  studied,  are  of 


122      STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 

f 

singular  merit  and  interest;    but  respecting 
them  all  we  must  first  consider  this  fact. 

We  know  everything  that  can  be  known 
about  the  condition  of  a  body  without  a 
spirit  i  1  it.  Bodies  which  the  spirit  has  left 
have,  for  medical  reasons,  been  closely 
examined  and  every  part  of  them  analysed. 
Everything  is  known  about  what  a  body  is 
like  without  a  spirit  in  it.  On  the  other 
hand,  absolutely  nothing  is  known  of  what 

Ignorance  a  spirit  is  like  when  the  body  ceases  to  clothe 

unclothed'  it  —  nothing   at   all.     We   cannot   say  any- 

*^'"  '        thing  about  it. 

We  have  no  knowledge  of  an  unclothed 
spirit,  beyond  what  the  Word  of  Revelation 
may  have  brought  to  us;  but  scientifically 
we  know  nothing  of  such  a  condition.  It  is 
very  curious  —  the  perfection  of  our  knowl- 
edge on  the  one  side  as  regards  the  body; 
the  absolute  thick  darkness  on  the  other  as 
regards  the  disembodied  spirit.  We  have  no 
real  knowledge  of  what  it  consists,  what  its 
quaHties  are,  what  it  can  do,  and  what  it 
cannot  do. 

Can  a  When  there  are  no  longer  eyes  to  see,  ears 

spirit  see,  .  i      i 

hear,         to   hear,   a  tongue  to  speak,  bram  cells  by 

think,  or  r      i  i  . 

act?  which  to  conduct  the  processes  of  thought, 


BEYOND  THE  \TIL  123 

we  have  nothing  to  guide  us  as  to  whether 
a  spirit  in  such  a  state  can  see,  hear,  think, 
or  act.  We  know  nothing  about  it,  I  repeat,  No  guide 
beyond  the  revelation  in  the  Word  of  God.  Bible. 
I  consider  the  extent  of  our  knowledge  with 
regard  to  the  body,  and  the  utter  absence  of 
knowledge  as  regards  the  spirit,  a  very  strik- 
ing fact.  We  are,  therefore,  here  absolutely 
thrown  back  upon  what  the  Bible  has  told 
us  of  this  disembodied  state,  and  it  is  singu- 
larly little. 

Of  course  we  understand,  as  already  pointed 
out,  especially  in  the  West,  in  Christian 
countries,  that  man  is  divided  into  three 
parts:  spirit,  which  has  no  extension  in  space; 
body,  which  is  absolutely  material;  and 
between  the  two  the  soul,  which  partakes 
of  the  attributes  of  spirit  and  of  the  body. 

Great   discussions   have   arisen   upon   the 
question  as  to  whether  the  spirit  is  asleep  Does  the 
or  awake  in  this  disembodied  state.     It  iSsfJep? 
well  to  remember  here  that  the  words  "  asleep  " 
and   "awake"   are  words   that  apply  to  a  U 
bodily  condition.     There  is  no  evidence  that 
when  we  are  asleep  at  night  in  bed  our  spirit 
is  then  asleep.    We  may  not  be  conscious, 
but  this   is   no   proof   the   spirit   sleeps;   in 


124      STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 

fact  we  have  many  evidences  that  the  spirit, 
in  some  sections  of  its  being,  is  very  much 
awake  while  we  are  asleep. 
Sleep  is  a       Therefore  the  words  "  asleep ' '  and  ' '  awake ' ' 

physical  i  r  •   •  i 

condition,  do  not  properly  refer  to  spirit,  and  to  press 

•    them  Uterally  is   as  foolish  as  to  press  the 

word  "person"   literally  with  regard  to  the 

Deity.     We  know  what  we  m.ean,  and  it  is 

the  nearest  human  word  to  convey  our  idea, 

but  we   carmot   express   Divine  reahties   in 

human  words.    All  we  know  from  Scripture 

.  is  that  we  "depart  and  are  with  Christ  which 

[is  far  better."    We  are  therefore  in  bliss;  we 

are  happy;  we  are  at  rest. 

It  does  not  appear,  if  we  are  to  take  the 

parable  of  Dives  and  Lazarus  of  our  Lord's 

own   telKng   about   this   disembodied    state 

as     representing    what    occurs    in     Hades, 

that  there  is  any  use  or  warrant  for  us  to 

Prayers      pray  for  departed  spirits,  as  is  customary  in 

depart^ed.   a  sister  Church  and   to   some  sUght  extent 

has  obtained  in  our  own.     There  appears  to 

be  no  possible  sanction  for  it  in  Holy  Writ. 

But,  on  the  other  hand,  a  very  remarkable 

fact  comes  to  Hght,  that  there  is  some  basis 

i  for  believing  that  departed  spirits  may  pray 

for  us.     That  is  a  very  different  thing;  and 


BEYOND  THE  VEIL  125 

surely  it  is  we  that  need  prayer  rather  than 
they.  The  rich  man  prayed  for  five  brethren 
that  he  had  left  behind  him  on  earth;  and 
I  should  be  very  sorry  to  say  that  it  was  a 
wrong  or  fooHsh  thought  to  believe  that,  even 
in  this  disembodied  state,  those  who  have  The 
gone  before  may  not  be  able  to  care  for  those  pray^o^r  us. 
who  are  left  behind. 

So  that  we  see  the  idea  of  the  sister 
Church  is  absolutely  reversed,  so  far  as  their 
prayers  for  the  dead  are  concerned,  the  liv- 
ing praying  for  the  dead;  for  it  appears  to 
be  the  dead  who  should  pray  for  the  liv- 
ing. For  this  statement,  of  course,  my  basis 
is  this  parable  of  our  Lord's,  as  far  as  we 
may  take  it  hterally. 

Now  passing  on  to  Resurrection,  as  I  have 
said,  it  is  a  matter  of  pure  faith  in  God's 
Word.  It  cannot  be  proved  at  present 
scientifically.     Those  who   shall   rise  in  the  We  shall 

rise  in 

glorious  Resurrection  are  defined  as  all  who  Christ's 
are  "in  Christ."  ^^The  dead  in  Christ  shall 
rise  fir  St. ''^  All  in  Christ  rise.  Those  who 
are  Christ's  at  His  coming;  that  is  to  say, 
however  humble  their  condition,  whatever 
station  or  nation  they  may  belong  to,  all  to 
whom  He  is  the  Way,  and  by  Whose  loving 


126     STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 

Hand  have  been  led  to  the  Father  of  spirits, 
not  only  rise,  but  rise  in  His  Likeness. 

The  process  appears  to  be  this,  that  Christ 
is  not  only  beautiful,  but  He  beautifies;  He 
is  not  only  glorious,  but  He  glorifies;  He  is 
:  not  only  living,  but  He  infuses  new  life  into 
every  one  that  sees  Him.  So  much  so  that, 
according  to  the  last  two  verses  of  2  Corin- 
His  trans-  thians  iii.,  we  are  even  now  changed  spirit- 

lorming  '  °  ^ 

power.  ually  into  His  Likeness  in  proportion  to  the 
extent  that  our  spirits  behold  Him.  As 
we  see  Him  with  the  spiritual  eye,  so  He 
changes  us  into  His  own  likeness  from  glory 
to  glory. 

It  will  be  the  same  exactly  when  the  mate- 
rial eye  sees  Him.    We  shall  be  like  Him  then, 

We  shall  be  physically,  for  we  shall  see  Him  as  He  is. 

in  body.  Amongst  those  who  will  be  like  Him  will  be 
thousands  who  have  suffered  martyrdom  for 
His  Name,  but  there  will  be  this  wonderful 
distinction,  as  far  as  we  know,  between  the 
martyrs  and  the  Christ;  that  while  He  will 
bear  in  His  glorified  Body  the  marks  of  His 
Cross  and  Passion,  those  who  suffered  for 
Him  will  be  without  stain  or  mark  of  any 
sort  on  the  glorified  body. 
We  shall  then  see  Him  for  the  first  time 


BEYOND  THE  VEIL  127 

Who  has  for  so  long  dwelt  within  us  here.  We  shall 
That  is  a  wonderful  thought.  As  we  read  for^the  first 
this  book,  that  Inner  Shrine  is  tenanted  by 
One  whom  we  shall  then  see,  Whom,  as  I 
pointed  out  in  the  opening  of  this  address, 
we  only  know  now  by  the  power  He  gives 
us  and  the  attributes  He  shows. 

Then  will  be  the  apotheosis  of  humanity  — 
Christus  Consummator  —  that  glorious  phrase  christus 
of  which  Bishop  Westcott  was  so  fond— mator. 
Christ  the  Consummation  of  all,  will  then 
raise  us  to  the  summit  of  humanity;  for  He 
is   not   only   the   effulgence   of   the   Divine 
Glory  and  the  express  Image  of  God's  Person, 
but  He  is  the  Head  of  every  creature,  of  all 
creation.    We,   therefore,   who   rise   in  His 
likeness  shall  then  reach  the  utmost  limit  of 
glory  to  which  the  human  race  will  ever  be 

raised. 

When  God  introduced  the  first  speck  of 
Ufe  into  this  globe  He  had  before  Him 
the  raising  of  that  life  and  the  never  ceasing 
to  raise  it  until  it  became  the  Likeness  of 
His  Son  in  Heaven.  Long  before  the  founda- 
tion of  the  world  we  were  chosen  in  Christ 
Jesus.  Of  course  such  thoughts  as  these 
far  transcend  our  capacities  for  understand- 


128      STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 

ing  them;  we  can  only  accept  them  as  they 
stand. 

Suffice  it  to  say  we  have  been  placed  by 

the  power  of  God  at  our  present  level  as 

human   beings.     We   are   the   head   of   the 

Head  of     animal  creation,  and  yet  separated  from  all 

the  animal         •it  •  11  irii* 

creation,  animals  by  an  mipassable  gulf,  by  having 
had  breathed  into  our  nostrils  the  Breath  of 
Life,  so  as  to  have  that  spark  of  the  Divine 
which,  though  it  does  not  make  us  gods  as 
some  have  asserted,  makes  us  human,  which 
makes  us  rational,  which  makes  us  beings 
like  God  in  having  a  will,  a  free  will,  subject 
to  no  known  law. 

Once  this  will  is  captured  by  God,  once 
we  are  obedient  to  the  Father  of  spirits, 
we  then,  as  I  have  said  in  the  first  lecture, 
begin  to  live  in  the  fullest  sense  of  the  word. 
We  do  not  get  less  human;  but  we  become 
truly  partakers  then  of  the  Divine  Nature. 

Still  we  wait  for  something  more.     There 

is  yet  a  more  glorified  state  to  which  the 

human  race  has  got  to  be  raised  in  Christ. 

One  cannot  but  wonder,  when  one  sees  so 

The  many  scientific  men  around  us,  and  human- 

of  human-  itarians  and  philanthropists,  all  engaged  in 

''^*  bettering  the  race,  that  there  should  not  be 


BEYOND  THE  VEIL  129 

on  the  part  of  many  of  them  a  more  earnest 
enquiry  as  to  whether  there  may  not  be  yet 
a  further  Hfting  up  of  the  race  to  another 
height,  to  another  level,  as  spoken  of  in  the 
Bible,  and  as  consummated  in  Christ. 

When  we  are  like  the  Second  Man  and 
have  lost  the  image  of  the  first,  then  indeed 
shall  we  have  reached  the  highest  hmit,  as 
far  as  we  know,  to  which  humanity  in  Christ  Christ  the 

1      1       Ui  r  1'c      r  V  •   1   Head  over 

will  ever  be  raised,  the     last  of  hfe  for  which  all. 
the  first  was  made  "  —  Christus  Consummator 
—  all  things  summed  up  in  Christ. 

It  appears  probable  that  in  the  glory  we 
shall  know  each  other,  but  that  the  value  of 
that  knowledge  must  entirely  depend  upon 
the  spiritual  Hnks  formed  with  one  another 
while  we  are  down  here.  Those  who  have 
passed  through  any  spiritual  experiences  to- 
gether will  have  links  in  eternity  which  they  Spiritual 
could  not  have  without  those  experiences,      et^ernd.* 

Personally  I  may  tell  you — you  may  think 
it  rather  strange — my  endeavour  is  to  know 
as  many  Christian  people  as  I  possibly  can 
during  this  present  life,  so  that  I  may  have 
more  spiritual  friends  in  the  other  world. 

Not  only  so,  but  our  lives  down  here  will 
undoubtedly  determine   our  position  in  the 


I30      STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 

coming  Divine  Kingdom.     I  firmly  believe 

that  the   true  Heaven  is  as   different  from 

our  conventional  ideas  as  one  thing  can  well 

be  from  another.     I  doubt  whether  anything 

The  could  be  more  absolutely  vapid  and  insipid 

conven-      ^^^   Unreal   than  the  conventional   Heaven 

Heaven      presented  to  our  thoughts  in  many  of  our 

hymns;   in  fact  I   may  go   so   far  as   this, 

and  say  that  were  it  not  for  the  Presence 

of  Christ,  none  of  us  would  care  to  go  to 

such   a  Heaven.     Having   our   Lord   there, 

and  being  in  His  presence,  everything  else 

seems  small. 

With  regard  to  Heaven,  or  shall  I  say 
the  future  state,  scripture  speaks  very  much 
less  about  it  than  we  do.     It  hardly  ever 
speaks  of  our  going  to  Heaven;  it  ^speaks 
.  about  our  going   to  be   with    Christ.     But 
what  is  before   the   minds   of   the  inspired 
writers  is   much  more  of  a  personal  inter- 
Happiness  est  and  a  sharing  in   Christ's  glory  than  a 
Heaven,     question  of  our  own  joy  and  happiness.     And 
it  is  well  that  it  is  so,  because  there  is  no 
doubt  that  no  one  ever  gets  happiness  by 
seeking  for  it. 

It  appears  that  when  we  reach  the  glorious 
morning  of  the  Resurrection,  not  very  long 


BEYOND  THE  VEIL  131 

will  elapse  before  Christ  takes  unto  Him 
His  great  power  and  reigns  over  this  whole 
world,  and  those  who  are  accounted  worthy 
will  doubtless  share  that  reign  with  Him  sharing 
in  proportion  to  the  way  in  which  they  have  3gn.^]^ 
shown  themselves  fitted  to  be  entrusted  with 
power;  so  that  our  Hves,  the  faithfulness  of 
our  Hves,  the  devotedness  of  our  lives,  and 
the  consistency  of  our  lives  are  all  being 
quietly  taken  into  account  day  by  day. 

They  are  all  noted  down  in  the  Divine 
records,  and  when  we  all  appear  before  the 
Judgment  Seat  of  Christ,  we  shall  receive  the  The 
things  (as  Christians  in  Heaven)  done  in  our  seff^f °' 
bodies,  whether  they  are  good  or  whether  they  ^'^"^*^- 
are  bad.     If  they  are  good  we  shall  have  an 
abundant  entry  into   the   joy  of  our  Lord, 
and  we  shall  be  appointed  to  certain  dignities 
as  rulers   consistent  with   our  position.     If 
they  are  bad  we  shall  suffer  loss. 

Perhaps  our  twenty  or  thirty  years  of 
Christian  life  down  here  will  be  found  so 
barren,  so  empty  that  there  is  no  opportu- 
nity for  praise  and  reward  connected  with  it. 
We  ourselves  shall  be  saved,  thank  God,  for 
our  entrance  into  Heaven  depends  upon  no 
works  that    we  have    done,  but    upon  the 


1^2      STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 


Position 
hereafter 
depends 
on  life  now, 


School 
time  and 
lessons 


All  is  prep- 
aration 
for  the 
future 
eternity. 


grace  of  Our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  But  our 
position  in  Heaven,  the  place  that  He  vvill 
exalt  us  to,  entirely  depends  upon  our  life 
down  here.  Such  in  general  is  the  teaching 
of  scripture  to  which  I  have  not  time  to  refer 
in  detail. 

But  I  must  pass  on.  We  must  picture 
all  Christians  as  now  in  Heaven.  We  must 
imagine  this  wonderful  thousand  years'  reign 
of  Christ  about  to  begin  over  the  redeemed 
world.  We  must  understand  that  we  have 
been  at  school  on  earth,  but  are  now  at  home. 
I  consider  our  Hfe  here  is  a  school  life:  and 
by  and  by  we  are  going  home  for  the  holi- 
days. Now  we  are  being  educated,  for  though 
this  world  makes  a  very  bad  home,  it  makes 
an  uncommonly  good  school.  We  are  pro- 
mooted  from  class  to  class  here  in  this  school, 
as  we  learn  our  lessons. 

Then  in  the  millennial  reign  of  Christ, 
as  I  have  pointed  out,  we  enter  on  more 
exalted  service;  we  shall  have  further  prac- 
tice in  serving  Him  in  order  to  prepare  us 
by  this  course  of  discipline,  of  the  life 
before  death  and  the  Hfe  after  death  and 
this  thousand  years  of  reigning  with  Christ, 
for  the  wonderful  future  that  will  then  open 


BEYOND  THE  VEIL  133 

before  us.  But  you  say,  "I  thought  that 
was  the  future.  The  utmost  bounds  of 
my  thoughts  have  never  stretched  beyond 
sharing  the  glory  of  the  millennial  reign  of 
Christ."  But  the  truth  is  we  have  not  so 
far  really  begun  the  future  eternity.  We 
only  even  then  stand  at  the  threshold  of  the 
marvels  that  are  opened  to  us  in  the  Bible. 

I  may  pause,  however,  here  for  one  moment  The  mil- 
to  consider  this  millennial  time.  All  Chris- 
tians are  described  as  forming  then  a  sort  of  a 
luminous  cube.  Picture  a  soHd,  Uke  a  cube 
of  glass,  limiinous  and  transparent  in  every 
direction,  the  centre  of  it  a  blaze  of  light, 
that  hght  being  the  Godhead.  God  Himself 
shall  dwell  in  the  midst;  there  shall  be  no 
sun;  there  shall  be  no  Hght  there  because  the 
Light  of  God  in  the  centre  illuminates  this 
cube. 

Now  what  is  the  idea  before  the  Apostle 
when  he  gives  such  a  marvellous  figure?  It 
is  this.  No  ray  of  God's  Hght,  no  Divine 
quaHty,  can  ever  reach  the  redeemed  earth 
but  through  this  transparent  cube,  the  Hght  The  trans- 
being  in  the  centre.  And  what  is  the  trans- cube, 
parent  cube?    Ourselves. 

That    is    to    say,    it    is   the   pleasure   of 


134      STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 

Almighty  God  not  to  reveal  Himself  to  the 
earth  save  through  us,  for  we  are  to  be 
the  sole  medium  for  the  transmission  of  the 
glories  of  God  to  the  humanity  that  will 
dwell  on  this  earth  during  this  wonderful 
reign  of  Christ. 

But  I  must  pass  on  now,  to  take  a  glimpse 
at  what  lies  beyond.  I  say,  when  these 
thousand  years  of  Christ's  reign  which  we 
share  in  our  glorified  bodies  has  reached  its 
close,  we  then  bid  farewell  to  this  old  planet, 
with  this  heaven,  the  envelope  surrounding 
it,  and  this  earth  and  sky  then  passes  away. 
A  new  heaven  and  a  new  earth  appears,  and 
our  vista  is  then  immensely  widened. 

The  furthest  glimpse  of  what  lies  "Beyond 
The  Epistle  the  Veil"  is  given  us  in  the  Epistle  to  the 
Ephesians.  Ephesians  where  I  shall  refer  to  three  pas- 
sages. In  this  epistle  human  language  is 
taxed  and  human  thought  is  strained  to  its 
very  last  limits.  Adam  Clark,  the  old  com- 
mentator, says  of  Ephesians,  "St.  Paul's 
nervous  language  seems  here  to  bend  and 
break  under  the  weight  of  the  divine  ideas 
which  he  endeavours  to  express." 

The  fact  is  the  vistas  are  so  endless,  so 
tremendous,  the  outlook  is  so  transcendent 


BEYOND  THE  VEIL  135 

that  it  seems  impossible  to  convey  it,  or  even 

an  idea  of  it,  in  words.     Astronomers  will  tell  pcmen- 

'    ^  _  dous  star 

you  that  at  times  they  turn  their  telescopes  depths. 
to  black  patches  in  the  heavens  where  there 
are  no  stars,  and  they  look  into  these  black 
patches,  and  they  see  the  universe  stretching 
on  to  infinity. 

There  is  apparently  nothing  there,  and  yet, 
with  a  more  powerful  glass  directed  to  one 
of  these  dark  pits  in  the  most  empty  part 
of  the  heavens,  where  there  seems  nothing 
but  blackness,  some  distinct  twinkhng  will 
be  discerned  from  stars  at  such  inconceivable 
distances  that  all  the  planets  that  we  see  U 
with  unassisted  sight  might  be  m  the  next 
street  compared  with  the  distance  of  these 
mighty  orbs. 

Such  are  the  vistas  that  stretch  their  The 
illimitable  expanse  before  us  in  Ephesians.  eternity. 
This  millennial  reign  is,  as  it  were,  not  in 
the  next  street,  but  it  might  be  happening 
to-morrow  compared  with  the  expanses  of 
time  that  we  must  just  look  at  for  one 
moment  before  we  close. 

As  I  said,  there  are  three  verses  I  want  to 
read.  The  first  is  Ephesians  i.  3:  "Blessed 
be  the  God  and  Father  of  Our  Lord  Jesus 


136      STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 

Christ  who  hath  blessed  us  with  every  spiritual 
blessing  in  the  heavenly  places  in  Christ: 
even  as  He  chose  us  in  Him  before  the  founda- 
tion of  the  world"  We  are  able  to  discuss  this 
matter  together  in  these  pages,  my  friends, 

««nuty**  because  before  this  world  ever  consolidated 
from  the  nebulous  mist  which  we  suppose 
was  its  origin — back,  back,  back,  when  there 
was  no  time,  when  God  was  All,  when 
there  was  no  Creation,  He  then  chose  that 
we  who  believe  His  Word  should  be  His 
children  in  Christ  Jesus.  It  is  an  amazing 
thought,  an  impossible  thought  for  our 
minds  really  to  conceive.  It  is  a  past  infin- 
ity of  time,  so  that  our  history  stretches 
]  right  back,  back,  back  to  the  ages  of  a 
by-gone  eternity. 

Then   again,  as  regards  what  I  may  call 

The  near    the  nearer  future,  look   at  Ephesians  ii.   7 : 

etermty.      ^j  .... 

He  hath  made  us  to  sit  with  Him  in  the 
heavenly  places  in  Christ  Jesus:  that  in  the 
ages  to  come  He  might  show  the  exceeding 
riches  of  His  grace  in  kindness  toward  us  in 
Christ  Jesus.^^  The  riches  of  God's  grace 
will  be  manifested  to  all  creation  by  our 
presence  in  Heaven.  If  we  can  be  brought 
there,  it  shows  what  His  grace  can  do,  for 


BEYOND  THE  VEIL  137 

all  of  us  who  are  living  here  are  conscious 
that  in  ourselves  we  are  less  than  nothing. 
That  is  the  near  future. 

Now  we  pass  on,  last  of  all,  to  Ephesians  The  far 
iii.  20 :  '^Now  unto  Him  that  is  able  to  do  exceed- 
ing abundantly  above  all  that  we  ask  or  think 
according  to  the  power  that  worketh  in  us"  — 
that  is  the  Divine  will  in  us,  the  Divine  in 
man,  —  "the  power  that  worketh  in  us,  unto 
Him  be  the  glory  in  the  Church"  —  that  is,  in 
all  Christian  men  and  women  —  "and  in 
Christ  Jesus  unto  all  generations  for  ever  and 
ever"  or,  as  the  margin  reads,  "unto  all  the 
generations  of  the  age  of  the  ages."  the^ag^e's^ 

What  does  this  mean?  That  throughout 
this  period,  that  is,  throughout  all  eternity, 
the  glory  of  God  will  be  seen  through  Christ 
Jesus,  through  Christians  and  the  Church. 
For  ever  shall  we  be  associated  with  Him, 
who  is  the  Way.  He  who  first  brought  us 
to  the  Father  of  spirits  will  be  associated 
with  us  for  ever  and  for  ever.  We  know 
not  what  inhabitants  there  may  be  in  other 
worlds  than  ours,  but  we  know  that  to  all 
intelligences  we  shall  display  the  glory  of 
God.  This  is  the  prospect  in  the  far  future, 
in  the  Umitless  eternity. 


138      STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 

Philosophers  sometimes  think  they  will  be 
Communi-  able  to  communicate  with  Mars,  but  it  seems 
with  Mars,  difficult  to  Understand  how  thoughts  can 
be  interchanged  where  there  is  no  common 
basis.  But  in  this  glorious  far  future  all 
created  intelligences  throughout  the  uni- 
verse, not  on  this  little  planet  only —  and 
there  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that  God  has 
intelligences  far  beyond  we  have  any  con- 
ception of  now  —  will  know  that  to  us  is 
given  the  wonderful  place  of  being  associ- 
ated with  Christ  in  displaying  His  glory 
for  ever  and  for  ever.  At  such  a  distance 
of  time  the  thousand  years  of  His  reign  will 
seem  but  a  past  though  never-to-be-forgotten 
moment. 

And  here  we  live  to-day,  considering  no 
cunning  fable  devised  by  men,  but  spending 
a  little  time  in  reverent  search  as  to  what  is 
our  destiny  Beyond  the  Veil.  I  ask  you  to 
sift  and  test  what  I  have  laid  before  you  by 
the  hght  of  Holy  Writ,  and  as  you  re-read 
Ephesians  iii.  21,  to  ask  yourselves  whether 
j^"Jj^^^P  human  language  has  ever  been  stretched  to 
here  inade-  guch  lengths  before. 

quate.  ^  ° 

I  think  Adam  Clark's  description  of  St. 
Paul's  language  is  wonderful;  it  seems  "to 


BEYOND  THE  VEIL  139 

bend  and  break  under  the  weight  of  the 
Divine  ideas  which  are  there."  At  any  rate 
the  result  is  this,  —  never  to  all  eternity 
will  any  one  who  has  found  the  Way  be 
separated  "from  the  love  of  God  which  is  in 
Christ  Jesus  Our  Lord  J' 

I  close  with  this  beautiful  description  of 
the  upHfting  of  the  Veil  that  still  hides  the 
future  from  our  vision. 

This  world  I  deem 

But  a  beautiful  dream 

Of  things  that  are  not  what  they  seem, 

Where  shadows  arise, 

Giving  dim  surmise 

Of  the  glories  that  shall  meet  our  waking  eyes. 

Arm  of  the  Lord! 

Creating  Word 

Whose  glories  the  silent  skies  record, 

Where  stands  Thy  name 

In  scrolls  of  flame, 

On  the  firmament's  high  o'er-shadowing  frame. 

I  gaze  o'erhead 

Where  Thy  hand  hath  spread 

For  the  waters  of  heaven,  their  crystal  bed; 

And  stored  the  dew 

In  its  depths  of  blue, 

Which  the  fires  of  the  sun  come  tempered  through. 

Soft  they  shine 

Through  that  pure  shrine, 


I40      STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 

As  beneath  the  veil  of  Thy  flesh  divine 

Streamed  forth  the  light, 

That  were  else  too  bright 

For  the  feebleness  of  a  sinner's  sight. 

And  such  I  deem 

This  world  will  seem 

When  we  waken  from  life's  uncertain  dream, 

And  break  the  shell 

Where  our  spirit's  dwell 

In  this  wondrous  anti-natal  cell. 

I  gaze  aloof 

At  the  tissued  roof 

Where  time  and  space  are  the  warp  and  woof; 

Which  the  King  of  Kings 

As  a  curtain  flings 

O'er  the  mystery  of  eternal  things. 

As  a  tapestried  tent, 

To  shade  us  meant, 

From  the  bare  everlasting  firmament; 

Where  the  blaze  of  the  skies 

Comes  soft  to  our  eyes 

Through  a  veil  of  mystical  imageries. 

But  could  I  see 

As  in  truth  they  be. 

The  glories  of  Heaven  that  encompass  me, 

I  should  lightly  hold 

The  tissued  fold 

Of  this  marvellous  curtain  of  blue  and  gold. 

And  soon  the  whole, 
Like  a  parched  scroll, 


BEYOND  THE  VEIL  141 

Shall  to  ray  amazed  sight  uproll; 

And  wnthout  a  screen 

At  one  burst  be  seen, 

The  Presence  in  which  I  have  ever  been. 

Oh!  who  shall  bear 

The  blinding  glare 

Of  the  Majesty  that  shall  meet  us  there? 

What  eye  can  gaze 

On  the  unveiled  blaze 

Of  the  light-girdled  throne  of  the  Ancient  of  days? 

Yet  there  I  shall  see 

From  sin  set  free 

The  face  of  the  One  who  died  for  me; 

In  robes  of  white, 

I  shall  bear  the  sight 

Of  the  Glory  of  God  in  Heaven's  light. 

Anon. 


VALEDICTORY 


VALEDICTORY 

THE   PRACTICAL  OUTCOME 

It  is  remarkable  that  no  letter  of  St.  Paul's  Remark- 
closes  when  it  reaches  its  supreme  height ;  It.  Pa^uFs  ° 
that   is,    with    the    climax   of   the   Highest  ^p'"^^^'- 
Thought  it  contains;  but  that,  on  the  con- 
trary, this  cHmax  is  generally  reached  about 
the  middle  of  the  epistle.     In  Ephesians  it 
is  at  the  close  of  the  third  chapter  out  of  six; 
in  Romans  at  the  close  of  the  eighth  out  of 
sixteen;    in  Colossians  in  the  first  few  verses 
of  the  third  chapter  out  of  four. 

Such  method  is  not  without  meaning,  and 
it  may  be  of  profit  to  us,  if,  instead  of  closing 
this  book  with  the  overwhelming  visions  of 
Ephesians,  considered  very  briefly  in  our  last 
Study,  we  add  here  a  few  words  of  practical 
import. 

It  will  be  found  that  in  each  of  St.  Paul's  Exhorta- 
letters  that  I  have  named  he  continues  with  on°^  ^^^^ 
exhortations    prefixed  with    the    one    word  p"^'^^^^- 
''Therefore:' 

145 


146      STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 

In  Ephe-       jn  Ephesians  we  read  these  touching  words, 
Romans,     "/^  therefore,  the  prisoner  in  the  Lord,  beseech 

and 

Coiossians.  ^/ow  to  Walk  Worthily  of  the  calling  wherewith 
ye  were  called,  with  all  lowliness  and  meekness, 
with  long  suffering,  forbearing  one  another  in 
love;  giving  diligence  to  keep  the  unity  of  the 
Spirit  in  the  uniting  bond  of  peace. ''^ 

In  Romans,  after  a  parenthesis  of  three 
chapters  descriptive  of  God's  dealings  with 
Israel,  the  apostle  writes  (xii.  i):  "7  beseech 
you  therefore,  brethren,  by  the  mercies  of  God, 
to  present  your  bodies  a  living  sacrifice,  holy, 
acceptable  to  God,  which  is  your  reasonable 
service,  and  be  not  fashioned  according  to  this 
world;  but  be  ye  transformed  by  the  renewing 
of  your  mind,  that  ye  may  prove  what  is  the 
good  and  acceptable  and  perfect  will  of  GodJ^ 
In  Colossians  the  Apostle  writes  (iii.  5): 
"Mortify  therefore  your  members  which  are 
upon  the  earth;  fornication,  uncleanness, 
passion,  evil  desire,  and  covetousness,  which  is 
idolatry.  .  .  .  Put  on  therefore  as  God's  elect, 
holy  and  beloved,  a  heart  of  compassion,  kind- 
ness, humility,  meekness,  long-suffering;  for- 
bearing one  another,  and  forgiving  one  another.^' 
aiiTiovf  ^^^  these  breathe  an  unmistakable  spirit 
unfeigned,  of  deep  humility  and  unfeigned  love;  and  I 


VALEDICTORY  147 

may  say,  if  these  be  not  the  outcome  of  our 
brief  Studies,  they  are  of  Httle  worth. 

We  read  in  St.  Luke  ix.  37:  ^'When  they 
were  come  down  from  the  mountain,  a  great 
muUittide  met  him;"  and  then,  on  Christ  heal- 
ing the  sick  boy,  "  They  were  all  astonished  at 
the  majesty  of  God." 

'^Then  came  the  disciples"  (who  had  not  Position » 

power. 

come  down  from  the  mountain)   "to  Jesus 
apart,  and  said.  Why  could  not  we  cast  it  out? 
And  he  saith  unto  them,  Because  of  your  little 
faith."    We  have  been  vvitnesses  of  heavenly 
glories  with  Christ  in  these  Studies,  and  when 
we  come  down,  a  great  multitude  full  of  sick- 
ness and  need  is  seen  to  meet  us,  and  our 
power  Hes  in  our  position  as  having  been  on  To  descend 
the  mount.     We  may  be  true  disciples,  but  if  gr^st""^*^ 
we  have  not  been  up  there  with  Christ,  we^^""'^' 
cannot  be  healers  of  men,  nor  are  we  clothed 
with  Divine  power. 

The  practical  outcome  of  all  such  Studies 
should  therefore  be  a  character  clean  cut, 
of  a  sweet  odour  and  all  pervading  force,  in 
harmony  and  constant  touch  with  the  Divine. 
It  will  be,  as  described  by  Emerson,  that  The 
"When  a  man  Hves  with  God  his  voice  shall  be  charact^. 
as  sweet  as  the  murmur  of  the  brook,  and  the 


148      STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 

rustle  of  the  corn.  He  will  weave  no  longer 
a  spotted  life  of  shreds  and  patches,  but  he 
will  live  with  a  Divine  unity.  He  will  cease 
from  what  is  base  and  frivolous  in  his  Hfe, 
and  be  content  with  all  places  and  any  service 
he  can  render.  He  will  calmly  face  the 
morrow  in  the  negligency  of  that  trust  which 
carries  God  with  it  and  so  has  the  whole 
future  in  the  bottom  of  his  heart." 

What  I  would  here  maintain  is  that  no 
other  studies  can  produce  hves  and  charac- 
ters as  lofty  as  those  that  are  formed  by  the 
Highest  Thought. 
Highest         High  Thought  gives  culture  and  knowledge, 
gives  the    both  widc  and  deep,  and  is  of  great  value, 
products.    The  ranges  of  the  investigation  of  the  Higher 
Thought  are  wider  and  deeper  still,  and  com- 
prehend all  that  throws  light  on  humanity, 
and  seeks  to  lead  it  to  its  noblest  end. 

But  I  contend  that  the  Highest  Thought 

supplies    the    missing    power    by    bringing, 

Human      through  faith  and  trust,  the  human  at  last  in 

Divine      contact  with  the  Divine.     So  that  redeemed 

brought  ,  1         o    •   •         J-     /~<    J 

into  con-  humamty  possessed  by  the  Spirit  of  God 
finds  a  new  joy  in  doing  the  Divine  will,  and 
from  contact  with  a  God  of  love  does  good 
hoping  for  nothing  again,  and  "coming  down 


VALEDICTORY  149 

from  the  mountain"  is  equipped  with  the 
power  as  well  as  the  will  to  bless  others,  to 
bring  the  sunshine  into  dark  lives,  the  good 
Physician  to  the  mentally  diseased,  the  open- 
ing of  eyes  to  the  blind,  the  loosening  of  chains 
to  the  prisoners,  freedom  to  the  slave,  and  Doing 

,  „  good  to  all. 

good  to  all. 

I  know  the  aim  is  high,  but  our  reach  must 
be  higher  than  our  grasp,  or  what  is  Heaven 
for?    As  Mr.  Haldane,  our  minister  of  war,  Haldane 
has  so  nobly  said  in  this  connection:    "Let christian] 
me    admit    without    qualification    that    the^'^^^*' 
Christian  ideal  is  not  Uved  up  to  anywhere 
in  the  world;   let  me  admit  that  the  facts  of 
Christians  everywhere  fall  below  the  con- 
ception of  life  presented  by  the  life  and  lead- 
ings of  the  Man  of  Galilee,  and  still  I  will 
contend  that  he  who  follows  Christ  ever  afar 
off,  with  faltering  step  and  many  a  fall,  may 
live  a  nobler  life  than  the  perfect  disciple  of 
Confucius.    No  ideal  is  high  that  is  fully 
realised.     The  man  who   claims  for  himself  ^04^3 
that,  instead  of  being  above  him,  it  is  per-J^^^l'^ 
fectly  embodied  in  his  life  confesses  that  he^'^eady 

,  ....  attained. 

has  no  aspirations  for  improvements.  It  is 
the  glory  of  the  Christian  ideal  that,  while 
it  is  within  the  reach  of  the  weakest  and  the 


T50      STUDIES  IN  THE  HIGHEST  THOUGHT 

lowliest,  it  is  high  enough  to  keep  the  best 
and  the  purest  with  their  faces  ever  upward." 

Lofty  * '  That  low  man  seeks  a  little  thing  to  do, 

failure  g^gg  j^.  ^^^^  ^^^^  j^. 

surpasses 

low  sue-  This  high  man,  with  a  great  thing  to  pursue, 

^^^^-  Dies  ere  he  knows  it. 

That  low  man  goes  on  adding  one  to  one, 

His  hundred's  soon  hit; 
This  high  man,  aiming  at  a  million 

Misses  one  unit. 
That  has  the  world  here  —  should  he  need  the  next, 

Let  the  world  mind  him ! 
This  throws  himself  on  God,  and  unperplexed 

Seeking  shall  find  Him," 


nifoloqil.il   Semin,,.y-Spe( 


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